Naruto and Sakura's five year mission
by Cmartin-Panda Productions
Summary: After several months of recovering from being taken hostage by the Borg, Starfleet want's Picard to have a pair of bodyguards on hand at all times. What he didn't expect, was getting those two bodyguards from a pre-warp planet full of Humans. The two 20 year old ANBU veterans, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, embark on a new adventure across the stars.
1. Chapter 1: A New Mission

**Happy New Year everyone! Sorry about the long wait for Legacy of Heroes. But as stated in my update on my profile, this will be the first of two new stories coming in and the next chapter of Legacy of Heroes is nearly finished. We have been very busy with personal stuff so Samuraipanda85 and I deeply apologize. That being said, we hope you enjoy this new story as well as another one that will be released either later today or by the weekend along with the next chapter of Legacy of Heroes.**

* * *

"Captain's log; stardate 41471.8. We have arrived near the Romulan neutral zone in accordance with Admiral Janeway with a proposal from Starfleet that she says I cannot refuse. What this means, I'm not sure. Whatever it could be, she says it would be in the best interest for myself and my crew." Said the Captain of the USS Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard. The massive Galaxy Class ship that was the Enterprise came into orbit near a planet that seemed to look a lot like Earth. Lush, green fields, vast oceans, rocky mountain landscapes, roaming hills, and.. vast amounts of Humans?

"Did you say, Humans, Data?" The taller man on the bridge of the Enterprise, Commander William T. Riker asked.

"Yes, sir. There seems to be settlements spread out across the planet with an estimated population of 1.4 billion." Lt. Commander Data stated. The only android to serve in Starfleet sat near the front of the bridge.

"Why would there be a Human colony on a planet so close to the neutral zone?" The ships consular, Deana Troi asked.

"I don't know. I didn't even know there was one." Picard stated.

Suddenly, a panel behind the captain started beeping.

"Captain, we're being hailed by the Voyager." The Klingon tactical officer, Lt. Worf stated.

"On screen." Picard ordered. The view screen before them changed from the view of the planet to the face of Admiral Katherine Janeway.

"Glad you could make it, Jean Luc." Janeway said with a smile.

"A pleasure as always, Katherine. But I'm afraid you have me in the dark on this one. Why are we here?"

"Starfleet and myself believe that our Borg liberated personnel need more protection from the Borg." Janeway stated with a sigh. "As such, we feel that personal body guards are needed. This Human colony has some of the best warriors in the Alpha Quadrant. We have contacted the only person willing to negotiate terms of selecting a few individuals to act as your personal body guards in case another Borg attack were to occur. You and your away team will meet me and my away team to meet with the Leaf Village leader, Tsunade Senju at 1400 hours."

Picard exchanged looks with Troi and Riker. Before he could speak, Janeway held up her hand.

"This is a non-negotiable order, Jean Luc. This comes from Fleet Admiral Paris himself and I support it." Janeway added.

Picard begrudgingly nodded in agreement.

"Our representative's from the Leaf have sent me a log of possible candidates for your selection. I will transfer the data to your ready room in a few minutes. You have two hours, Jean Luc." Janeway stated before cutting the transmission.

Without another word, Picard got up and went into his ready room. There, on his desktop computer terminal, was the list of candidates that would be the most suited for him.

Over the next hour, Picard scrolled through the 12 candidates that the Leaf Village provided. Picard was not amused over the fact that most of them are not even 20 years old yet. He was getting ready to choose until two profiles caught his eye.

* * *

Meanwhile, In the Hokage tower, 0745 hours. Tsunade sat at her desk discussing the two chosen candidates for this job as the two that were selected appeared in a puff of smoke in front of the room.

"M'lady." The female ANBU spoke while the blond haired male kept silent. He knew if the pink haired ANBU caught him referring to their Hokage as Granny while he was in their ANBU garb, she would send him flying into the Hokage mountain.

"You can drop the formalities, Sakura." Tsunade stated as the Starfleet representative turned to face the two selected candidates. "This here is Ambassador Montgomery Scott. He is a Human ambassador from a space fairing super power known as the United Federation of Planets. You two have been selected to go on a top secret SS-Ranked mission as personal body guards to one of their Starship Captains, as was requested from Starfleet." Tsunade explained.

The man known as Montgomery Scott stood up. He was an old man who had seen his fair share of encounters over his life span. He was somewhat on the round side, grey mustache and a grey head of hair that had faded from the top.

"Just call me Scotty." Scottie said in a thick Scottish voice.

"I'm sorry, back up, Starfleet?" Naruto asked, never having heard of such a village.

"Yes, Starfleet." Scotty stated. "We are a group of space explorers from a planet called Earth. We use ships made from technology that is easily several hundred years ahead of your time." Scottie summarized.

"Let me get straight to it." Tsunade stated. "You two were selected out of a roster of 12 candidates to serve as body guards to a man named Jean Luc Picard."

"Captain Picard was captured and transformed into a bio-mechanical being by a species in space known as the Borg. The Borg are a massive group of cyborgs with only one goal in mind; assimilation of all life forms." Scottie added.

"They abduct lifeforms of all kinds and mutilate them into one of their own." Tsunade stated. "I know this is all a lot to take in, but Admiral Janeway and Captain Picard himself will be here shortly. You two are more than welcome to refuse as you will be away for 5 years. But I figured you two would want to go on a new adventure since we've been dead here as far as missions go."

"Anything beats fighting the genin for a chance to chase Tora the cat." Naruto replied grimly.

Sakura couldn't help but nod in agreement. Things had certainly gotten boring ever since Naruto had all but abolished war. Who knew soldiers would need to conflict to maintain themselves?

"I figured you'd say that." Tsunade smirked. She then turned to Scottie. "Tell the Admiral that the candidates have decided to go."

Scottie nodded and tapped an oddly shaped pin on his uniform. "Ambassador Scott to Voyager."

'Voyager here. Janeway speaking.' a voice sounded from the other end.

"The candidates have agreed, Admiral." Scottie stated.

'Acknowledged, Mr Scott. We'll beam down shortly. Janeway out.'

A short while passed as Naruto and Sakura got further details about their mission from Scottie. With a info PAD that he had with him, he was able to show the two ninja's the ship they'd be serving on and the kind of technology involved in it. Needless to say, the two were stunned that such a creation could existed. That was when 4 people appeared in the room in a column of light as the beings materialized in front of those present.

Naruto and Sakura both jumped when the beams of light took on the forms of people wearing odd looking uniforms.

"Admiral Janeway. Welcome to the Leaf." Tsunade greeted.

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Tsunade. This is my first officer, Captain Chakotay." Janeway stated, motioning to the man that stood next to her. "This is Captain Picard and his security officer, Lt. Worf." Janeway added as she motioned to the elderly man and the taller, dark skinned man with a boney forehead.

"A pleasure to meet you." Picard stated with a smile.

Both Naruto and Sakura stayed silent, both trying to get a read on these four newcomers. Sakura from a medical standpoint while Naruto sized up Picard and Worf.

Picard then saw his candidates standing near Tsunade and looked upon them with scrutiny.

"So, these are them?" Picard asked.

"Yes sir. These two are actually the best I have to offer." Tsunade praised.

"I'll make that determination myself it its all the same." Picard stated seriously.

Naruto and Sakura removed their masks as a courtesy to Picard. Revealing their 20 something faces.

Picard walked up to the two shinobi and looked upon them in the eye. he could see in Sakura's and Naruto's eyes that they had seen many battles in their short life. Their eyes were steeled, showing hardly any emotion, hard, calculating. The eyes of cold blooded killers that would protect their loved ones at the drop of a hat is what Picard saw.

Naruto likewise gazed back into Picard's eyes. He saw age, experience, the eyes of a tried and tested leader. Eyes that very much reminded Naruto of the wizardly Third Hokage.

"They have the eyes of warriors, much like that of Klingon's like my Security Officer here." Picard stated. "Their posture, their stance, their attitude, exactly what I would come to expect of someone I would safeguard my life to. I accept these two." Picard said as he straightened his uniform.

The Ten and Chi duo smirked at the Captain's praise.

"I want you two to understand something. I run a tight ship and I expect you two to follow my orders to the letter. You will be going deep into space for the next 5 years as members of my crew. There may not be another chance to get back here anytime soon, so if there is anyone you want to say your good byes to, now is the time to do it. I'll give you an hour." Picard stated.

"Right." They both replied.

"I'll wait here for you." Picard added.

"You two are dismissed. Pack up whatever you wanna take with you and say your goodbyes. But remember, this mission is highly classified and must not be discussed with anyone." Tsunade stated.

The two Shinobi agreed and took it as an excuse to leave to track down all their friends to say goodbye.

For the most part it was smooth sailing. Most of their friends were current or former ANBU so they knew what the secrecy meant. Most were jealous that the two of them had scored such a high paying job after 3 years of peace, still the 5 year long duration of the mission was off putting for many, especially Sakura's parents.

Finally after saying goodbye to their former Jounin sensei Kakashi, Naruto asked that the two of them go their separate ways for a bit. Sakura suspected it was so he could say goodbye to his longtime girlfriend Hinata.

Sakura let him go without too much teasing. It was just as well, she had a letter to write to Sasuke...

After some time had passed, Naruto and Sakura returned to Tsunade's office where Picard and Worf remained waiting for the two new recruits. Janeway had long since left with Chikotay and Scotty so it was just the two officers from the Enterprise.

"You all done with your goodbyes?" Tsunade asked.

"Save for you, Granny Tsunade." Naruto joked.

Tsunade's heart melted as she got up and stood in front of her ANBU soldiers. This would be the hardest goodbye she ever had to make.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno." Tsunade stated as she tried not to choke up. "As of right now, you two... will be placed on an extended leave of absence. Upon your return, you will be paid for your services rendered to the Federation. During your time away, you will not be Shinobi of the leaf. Instead, you will be officers of the United Federation of Planets. As such, I require your headbands. You're not being fired, just placed on an extended leave of absence."

Sakura handed her headband off without a second thought, but Naruto lingered for a bit. The headband he wore was the same one Iruka-sensei had given him when he first graduated, it was one of his most treasured possessions. The first gift he had ever received from the first person to ever acknowledge him.

Tentatively, he undid his headband and passed it to Granny Tsunade.

"I know what this headband means to you Naruto. So, I'll have something made up for you when you return. This..." Tsunade paused as she tried to regain her composure as she started to choke up, something that was not unnoticed by the others there. "This isn't forever, you two."

Naruto smirked to stop any tears from escaping. "Course not, I still gotta come back here and take that Hokage hat off your head, Granny."

That was enough for the floodgate to release for Tsunade. She whimpered slightly as she pulled Naruto into a loving embrace, tears streaming down her face.

"You damn well better. I ain't going to be at this job forever.." Tsunade said softly.

Sakura couldn't take much of this display and stepped into the hug herself. She was gonna miss her mentor too ya know. Lady Tsunade was like a second mother to Sakura. The Fifth Hokage welcomed Sakura into her grasp.

"I'm... gonna miss you both... Please stay safe.." Tsunade sobbed lightly.

"We will...and tell Shizune I'm sorry I won't be there to see her and Kakashi-sensei's child being born." Sakura said.

"She'll understand... I'm sure." Tsunade sniffed as she pulled away from her two favorite ninja. She wiped away her tears and smiled. "Do us proud.. you two."

Sakura and Naruto straightened up and wiped away their tears.

"D-dismissed." Tsunade chocked out, to which both Naruto and Sakura nodded as fresh tears threatened to spill out.

Picard and Worf then walked over to their new crew mates and Picard tapped his combadge.

"Picard to Enterprise. Four to beam up." Picard ordered.

"We'll miss you..." Sakura chocked out.

"I will, too." Tsunade said.

Once Picard was convinced the goodbyes were done, he gave the final order. "Energize."

Within seconds, all four of them de-materialized and were gone completely.

* * *

The four re-materialized on the transporter pad on board the ship. Naruto and Sakura were starting to feel a little uneasy, being that was their first time being beamed anywhere.

"Ugh.. That was weird.." Naruto groaned.

"you shall get used to it over time." Worf commented.

"Mr Worf. Escort these two to their quarters." Picard ordered. "I will have your ship assignments when you get into uniform. Sakura, Since you have medical background and lots of it, you will be part of the medical staff. Naruto, your combat and tactical experience will be used effectively on the bridge. You shall me Worf's assistant in offense, defense and communications." Picard stated.

"Since positions here are color coordinated, Naruto, your uniform will be red to signify that you are operating under tactical. Sakura, yours will be blue to signify you are medical." Worf explained. "If you two will follow me, your quarters are on deck 8.:

Naruto and Sakura nodded as they followed the Klingon out of the automatic sliding doors, which made Naruto gasp in surprise.

"WOAH! COOL!" Naruto exclaimed like an excited child. Picard chuckled at his display.

Continuing on, they made their way to a door that was labeled DECK 8 - 42.

"Here is where you'll be staying." Worf said as the door opened to reveal a rather luxurious living area that had two bedrooms, one on opposite ends of the main living area.

"No way, all of this is for us?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted at his living quarters.

He had served on some battleships when collaborating with the Hidden Mist village on dealing with pirates that had taken over an archipelago. His quarters had included a bunk bed and a drawer to hold all his belongings. Luxuries like a living room were reserved for the Captain and other high ranking officers.

This looked like a decent apartment.

"A good portion of the crew quarters are like this. Granted that other ships in the fleet are not as luxurious and Klingon ships are most certainly not like this. The Enterprise is the flagship of the Federation and deals with many diplomatic missions and exploration.." Worf explained.

"So that means luxury was key for those who would be away for years at a time on deep space missions?" Sakura inquired.

"Precisely." Worf confirmed. "There is a bedroom to the left and the right. they are the same layout so you two can choose which one you want. There is a bathroom located next to each bedroom with a standard issue sonic shower." Worf then walked over to the COM panel on the side of the wall. "This is used for video communications and general ship communications. Entertainment wise, you can listen to various types pf music."

Worf then walked over to a little alcove in the wall. "This is the food and matter replicator. We have over 2 million types of food stored in the computer for you to.. indulge yourself. It can also create clothes and other items." Worf explained.

"Does it make ramen?" Naruto asked because of course he did.

"I do not know what that is." Worf said as he turned to the replicator. "Computer. Is there any dish in the memory banks labeled ramen?" Worf asked the computer.

"AFFIRMATIVE." A feminine monotone voice sounded. "THERE ARE OVER 230 VARIETIES OF RAMEN STORED IN MEMORY."

"Miso Pork ramen with extra pork." Naruto quickly ordered, his mouth already watering.

A light hum sounded and a bowl of piping hot ramen was materialized, exactly to order.

Naruto grabbed the new materialized chopsticks and dug in. Worf had never seen someone eat with such ferocious, Sakura just rolled her eyes. She had long grown used to Naruto's antics.

"Adequate." Naruto said once he was finished.

"Naruto, you are going to eat more than just ramen while we're here. I'm not going to live here with you for 5 years just to sit and watch you pig out on ramen every day." Sakura scolded.

"Computer. Scan the other male and female and create ensign level male tactical uniform and ensign level female medical uniform." Worf ordered.

The computer beeped and a infrared light surrounded the both of them for a few moments. Shortly after the light disappeared, the replicator homed and two sets of folded uniforms and boots appeared, both with rank insignia and combadge.

"That is seriously cool." Naruto commented again.

"Yes. I suppose it is, as you say, cool." Worf stated as he handed the uniforms to each of them. "Go change and meet me back here. I am also going to take you on a tour of the ship. After that, you will be in a meeting with the senior staff and your duties will be explained to you, to which you will most likely start tomorrow."

Naruto and Sakura took their uniforms and went to their bedrooms to change, Sakura taking the left, Naruto on the right. after about 10 minutes, Naruto and Sakura both walked out wearing black jumpsuits. The only difference between the two was the shoulders on Sakura's was blue and Naruto's was red.

"Pretty swanky, don't you think Sakura?"

"Not really my color, but its comfortable." Sakura stated. "Looks good on you, though."

Worf then handed them both their combadges. "These are your communicators. They will allow you to contact anyone on the ship and talk to anyone on the ship even while down on the planet. They also double as universal translators for when we encounter alien species."

Sakura and Naruto took their combadges and using where Worf's was as a reference, pinned them on the left side of their chests.

"You mind if I strap my kunai belt to my leg or is there some dress code about that?" Naruto asked.

"I am uncertain. I would think for now you should leave it off. I have various hand weapons myself, but rarely use them. I will teach you both how to operate a phaser and tricorder." Worf answered.

"Sweet, I've always wanted to learn how to use...whatever those are."

"Idiot.." Sakura said under her breath.

"A phaser is a hand held beam weapon that we use for self defense. A tricorder is used in many applications from medical uses, you generalized scanning." Worf explained.

"I know Sakura-chan's got that down pat with her medical jutsu." Naruto bragged. Sakura held up her hand glowing green with her mystic palm technique ready to go.

"What is this?" Worf said in surprise

"My Mystic Palm Technique." Sakura explained. "In our world we use chakra to do many extraordinary things. Including healing wounds and scanning for injuries like your device there does. I guess you could think of it like magic. I have also been tried in more traditional medical practices. Use of herbs and chemicals. You name it."

"Astounding. I was not made aware of such a thing." Worf stated.

"Sakura-chan here is also the very best at medical jutsu. Easily surpassing Granny Tsunade." Naruto continued to brag.

"Alright, Naruto. That's enough." Sakura stated. She was seriously flattered at Naruto's praise, but wasn't appropriate with him being in a long standing relationship.

"What? I'm just telling the truth."

"Yes, well, what have I told you about doing that? Especially that you and Hinata are-"

"I'm sorry, but we need to move this along." Worf said, interrupting Sakura.

Sakura nodded, slightly fuming at Naruto for getting her in trouble on their first day.

"We will first make our way to sick bay. Sakura, you will be spending most of your time there so you need to get familiar with it. You will also meet Dr Crusher, the chief medical officer on the ship*" Worf stated. "From there, we'll head to engineering and you will see what powers this ship and meet our chief engineer. From there, we'll attend the meeting I talked to you about."

"Sounds good." Sakura said.

"Lead the way." Naruto added.

After a rather long ride in the turbo lift and a walk down a hallway, the three of them made it to sick bay. Almost immediately, Sakura looked like she was in heaven. The medical technology that was there was mindbogglingly advanced and looked so simple to use. The way of medicine was to Sakura as ramen was to Naruto; it was her addition and she was feeding it happily.

"Woah..." Sakura breathed out.

"I think you're home, Sakura." Naruto teased.

"Yea..." Sakura said absentmindedly as she slowly walked forward, looking at all the medical technology like she was in a trans.

Dr Crusher walked around the corner to see who came in to sickbay so see who it was. She saw Worf and two ensigns who she was not familiar with.

"Hey Worf. What can I do for you?" Crusher asked.

"Greetings, doctor. These two here are new tot he crew and I was tasked with showing them around." Worf explained.

"I see." Crusher stated as she took in the two that were before her, noticing that the girl with pink hair was wearing a medical uniform. "Hello there. Are you medical?" the doctor asked.

"Yes." Sakura said confidently.

"I'm doctor Beverly Crusher." She said as she held out her hand in greeting.

"Doctor Sakura Haruno, a pleasure." Sakura replied as she shook her hand.

"Oh another doctor are you? And at an Ensign level?" Crusher said in confusion. "How long have you been in Starfleet?" Dr Crusher asked as she pulled her hand away.

"We've been on this ship since 3 in the afternoon so... an hour?" Naruto answered for Sakura.

Crusher went wide eyed. "So, you just arrived here? Worf, whats going on?" Crusher asked.

"They are from the planet Element. they are the new body guards Captain Picard took on. Sakura here is a doctor in her village and from what we are told, the best in her world." Worf explained.

"I see. Well, sorry to tell you, but if you're working here, you won't be having the title of doctor until you can prove to me otherwise."

"Understandable, I'm ready to learn." Sakura spoke with the same conviction she used when she first asked Tsunade to take her on as her apprentice.

"Excellent." Crusher stated. Just then, a frantic woman with a unresponsive child came in.

"Help my son! He's not breathing!" The woman screamed.

Both Crusher and Sakura whipped their heads around as one.

"Perfect timing." Crusher said as she carried the child over to the exam table and used a medical tricorder to scan the child's body.

"No object obstructing the airway. Nurse, get me 12 CC's of epinephrine." Crusher announced, but Sakura had other ideas.

"Wait. Let me handle it." Sakura stated as she moved her glowing hand over the young boy.

"What in the..." Crusher stated in shock. Immediately, she brought up her tricorder and was scanning the boy and Sakura.

"His O2 stats are rising..." Crusher breathed out in disbelief.

"He's suffering from an acute allergic reaction." Sakura stated as she poured chakra into the boy. She then looked up tot he mother. "What are his allergies?"

"Um.. Shell fish, but I don't think he had any." The mother stated.

"The symptoms say otherwise." Sakura stated as the glow from her hands started to subside. She then started moving her other hand over the childs chest to see if there were any other issues. She found none and the chakra in her hands went away completely. "That should do it."

Crusher scanned the boy over with her medical tricorder and was shocked when she found nothing wrong with the boy.

"Absolutely amazing..." Crusher stated in shock. "How did you do that?" She asked Sakura.

"Mystic Palm Technique. I can use my chakra, the energy of the body, to manipulate another person's body. From speeding up or slowing down cell growth, to monitoring what state the body is in. I can literally feel what ailments are afflicting the patient." Sakura explained.

"But, you healed him so fast. even our medicines don't even work that quickly..."

"Like I said. I accelerated his cell growth which in term sped up his recovery."

"T-this.. This is... far beyond human capacities! I want to run some tests on you." Crusher stated.

"Ummm..." Sakura stuttered, unsure if she liked where this was going.

"It's just a few harmless scans. I need to give you and your friend physicals anyway as you are new tot he ship." Crusher explained further.

"Excuse me, but my son?" The startled mother asked the two doctors.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Crusher stated as she did a complete scan on the boy. "He is completely fine from what I can tell. Try to keep him from anymore shell fish, okay?" Dr Crusher stated.

"Oh of course. Thank you." The grateful mother replied.

"Joffery, what do you say?" She spoke to her son.

"Thank you ." The boy said, although everyone could tell he was directing his gratitude at Sakura. Who knelt down in front of him without skipping a beat.

"You're very welcome." She smiled. "Be sure to stay away from anymore shellfish now."

"I will." He promised.

Dr Crusher watched as Sakura interacted with the child. She saw something she has yet to see in any of her medical staff and she knew right then and there, she had found her second. As the mother and child left, Crusher approached Sakura.

"I have yet to see a doctor or child in my sickbay interact with a sick child the way you just did. You kept your cool, treated his ailment and sent him on his way with no residual problems all without any medicine or scanning equipment." Crusher said in amazement.

"How long have you been doing this?" Crusher asked.

"I began my training with Lady Tsunade at the age of 13. That was 7 years ago."

"13?! You have been doing this since the age of 13?!" Crusher exclaimed in complete shock. "Unbelievable... The human race has been trying to come up with new medicines and procedures for the last 3 centuries and yet... Everything I just saw now damn near makes it all obsolete..."

"I wouldn't say that. If the boy had an unknown allergy we would have had to use other methods to find out what was wrong with him to help him. I'm sure you have a sophisticated method of determining such things with your technology."

"Yes, we would have, however, it would have taken us longer to fix the problem than what it did you."

Crusher was completely stunned. She had heard about the people on element being a pre-warp civilization and to most, were considered a primitive race. Yet, they had more advanced medical procedures than even the Vulcans.

"you did a fantastic job. So much so that I would be a complete fool not to let you work with me. I'm going to bring this up tot he captain during your meeting later. In the mean time, I want you and your friend to hop up ontp a table so I can give you a thorough examination."

Sakura nodded and did as she was told. Naruto was more hesitant.

"Is there something wrong?" Crusher asked.

"I'm not a huge fan of doctors and hospitals." Naruto replied.

"Then why are you always around me?" Sakura chimed in.

"You're you, Sakura-chan."

"And Lady Tsunade? And Shizune?"

"They're fine. I just don't like the doctors always in white coats..."

"She's wearing a blue coat, idiot.." Sakura deadpanned.

"You know what I mean, Sakura." He looked into her eyes and she could see the briefest hint of sadness, of old pain.

"Oh shit..." Sakura cursed as she realized what he was hinting at. "Naruto, I'm so sorry.. I forgot.."

"It's fine Sakura. I can handle it." Naruto said, taking his seat on the table. "Let's get it over with."

"Are you sure?" Sakura said with concern.

"Come on, Sakura. I said I'm fine, so I'm fine." Naruto said with a smile.

"Okay." Sakura said. She forgot about his history for a time, mainly because he was so happy lately. Now she can't help but feel bad for him and... something more. Something she hasn't felt since he returned to the village when he was 16.

 _'No.. No, no.. Not that.. Not now...'_ Sakura scolded herself.

had no idea what these two were going on about. She figured the man had a bad experience with hospitals growing up and left it at at that.

Going over Sakura with her tricorder, she seemed to be completely human, except...

"What a minute." Crusher said as she was in mid scan. "Worf, come look at this."

The Klingon security officer came over and looked at the tricorder readings.

"Astounding. This shows that he is putting out an energy level nearly as powerful as a Photon torpedo." Worf stated.

"That's what I mean. These readings are off the charts." Crusher then looked at a confused Sakura. "You said that this power you have is Chakra, right? What exactly does it consist of and how did you come to use it?"

"It's hard to explain to someone from outside our way of life. Basically chakra is the mix of mental and physical energies from within ourselves. We mold chakra to create jutsus like the Mystic Palm Technique I showed you earlier." Sakura explained while still sitting on her own examination table.

"Yea that actually doesn't tell me what this energy really comes from.." Crusher stated. "But we'll figure that out later. From what I can tell, you check out completely."

Sakura nodded and got of the table while Dr Crusher made her way over to Naruto. As she expected, scans of his body showed high levels of unknown energy pouring out of him, but this energy was even higher than Sakura's. This was yet again something she would have to bring to the Captain's attention.

"Well, your energy levels are off the scale as well. I'm reading some past injuries that were never healed right, but you seem to function okay like they are. most of the injuries seemed to have been repaired. Other than that, you seem to be in perfect health." Crusher announced.

"Wait, that's it?" Naruto asked.

"Yup, that's it. I told you it was just a few scans." Crusher said.

"See Naruto? you were fussing over nothing." Sakura teased.

"Well, don't I feel like an idiot." Naruto stated.

Sakura rolled her eyes as the two of them hopped off their tables.

"Well, you two are fit for duty. Sakura, I'll have you start here tomorrow at 0400 hours. Make sure you're here on time." Crusher stated.

"Yes, Ma'am." Sakura said. 'Looks like I'm back on coffee.'

"Let us continue on then. We have a lot left to see." Worf announced. The two Starfleet ninja's followed the Klingon out of sickbay and down to the nearest turbo lift.

After some time, they arrived in engineering, the heart of the ship as it were.

"Why are we down here if we're hardly ever going to be here?" Naruto asked.

"You must know the layout of the ship in case there were to be an intruder aboard. knowing where the vital areas of the ship are is key to being a proper security officer." Worf explained.

"Ah, carry on then." Naruto said, now taking everything in with a more critical eye.

Not a moment later and they rounded the corner to the engine room, where in the center of it stood a massive, glowing pillar that made a thundering humming sound as the blue glowing light pulsated up and down.

"What the hell is that?" Sakura said in amazement.

"That is the warp core, the generator that powers the ship and enables us to travel faster than light." Worf explained.

"Faster than light? How is that even possible?" Sakura asked.

"In the year 2063, Earth's time, a scientist by the name of Zephram Cochrane created a prototype space pod that used a reactor core similar to this one." A man near them said as he walked up to them. He had dark skin like Worf, but eas shorter and seemed to be human. The only thing they couldn't make out was the man's eyes as they were covered by a optical visor. "Commander Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineer." Geordi greeted as he held out his hand, to which Sakura and Naruto shook his hand. "The scientist created the first warp jump for Human kind, which led to hundreds of years for us to improve upon his design. This warp core is the most powerful and efficient in Starfleet currently."

"Ensign Sakura Haruno." Sakura greeted back.

"Ensign Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto added.

"Ah, new recruits. Any of mine?" LaForge asked Worf.

"No. not this time. Naruto here will be working with me and Sakura will be working with Doctor Crusher. She has shown rather remarkable medical skills." Worf explained.

"That's a shame. Well, I suppose I can give you guys the tour." Geordi stated as he motioned them to follow.

Geordi led the two Ensigns closer to the warp core. Sakura felt a little nervous being this close to a reactor. She had heard about experimental nuclear reactors back home and how unstable they were and their radiation output could be lethal.

"This beauty is my pride and joy. Fastest warp engine in the fleet currently with a top warp speed of 9.6." Geordi stated.

"How fast is that?" Naruto asked.

"In terms of light speed, it is just under 2,000 times the speed of light." Geordi answered.

"So that's fast."

"What about in terms of Kilometers?" Sakura asked.

"Roughly 2 trillion Kilometers per hour at that speed." Geordi stated, to which the two shinobi's jaws hit the floor.

"T-two..."

"T-trillion...?" Sakura and Naruto breathed out in shock.

"That's right. Amazing aint it?" Geordi said with a grin. Both Ensigns nodded slowly.

Naruto cupped his hand around his partner's ear. "Sakura-chan, that's alot right?"

"Put it this way, Naruto. We can travel around our world 5 times in less than a minute at that speed." Sakura stated quietly.

"Woah." He said in awe. Never before could he ever conceive the need to go that fast.

"Since space is endless, we can usually cover a sector of space in a little more than 4 days just traveling at Warp 9. A normal sector of space is 20 light-years end to end." Geordi explained further. "Our fuel source is a mineral called dilithium, which we use it's crystal form to power the warp core. There is also a re-atomizer in the reactor that rebuilds the crystals over time using trace particles of unspent dilithium collected in space."

"So we could effectively keep on flying forever?" Sakura asked, astonished at the implications of an endless fuel source.

"In theory, we could. however, the reactor does need a shut down period to cool down." Geordi explained.

"You keep calling it a reactor. Is it nuclear?" Sakura asked and Geordi chuckled.

"No. We haven't used nuclear power in a few centuries. This is far more efficient and stable without the effects of radiation. You could eat off this thing and nothing will happen to you."

Naruto looked ready to step forward to do just that when a small and firm hand held him back.

"Don't even think about it." Sakura ordered.

Geordi laughed at their interaction. "Well then follow me. There is much more to show you."

Geordi led Sakura and Naruto behind a glass wall where the main engineering stations were. The amount of blinking lights and images on the screens amazed the two. So much so that Naruto was starting to get curious.

"What's this for?" Naruto asked as he inched his finger closer to the button, but was immediately stopped by Geordi.

"Don't touch that!" Geordi shouted. "If you had pressed that button, you would have ejected the warp core."

Naruto pulled back his hand like he touched molten lead.

"Why is something so important just a button press from being released?"

"There is more failsafes involved, but its not something I want to spend the next ten minutes fixing."

"Just do everyone a favor and don't touch anything." Sakura scolded.

The dumb blond held up his hands to show that he wasn't touching anything.

"Anyway.." Geordi sighed. "This panel is the status of the warp core, deflector dish, impulse engines and thrusters. The panel behind you is used for the shields, weapons and structural integrity field. The panel next to it is for the life support, transporters and environmental controls. You can thinkof this part of the ship as the main control center for all of the ships functions."

"Making it the most important area of the ship." Naruto deduced.

"Exactly. While there are access panels on the bridge, this is where the major controls are." Geordi confirmed.

"Hmmm...would you mind if I do something?" Naruto asked vaguely.

"So long as you don't touch anything, fine."

"Nothing sensitive I assure you. Just a flat surface." The man replied. Quickly Naruto flashed through the appropriate hand signs until the tip of his finger glowed a bright yellow. He then wrote a few symbols that neither Worf nor Geordi could make sense of. Naruto then rested his finger tips in front of his face to signify that he was done.

"Alright, there we go."

"What did you just do? I detected a massive energy surge on a Theta band coming from your hand." Geordi stated.

"I just placed a marker seal. It's a jutsu of my father's: the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. It allows me to teleport from any location to where I have placed a seal. Either on a surface like this one..." Naruto wiped out a three pronged kunai he had been concealing on his person. "Or on these specially made kunei."

"I have no idea what you just said, but it sounds useful. That energy won't affect the ships systems, will it? A lot of these systems are very sensitive."

"I'm not sure, only one way to find out." In true maverick unpredictability, he then ran off down the walkway until he was out of sight. Sakura just shook her head at his antics.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!" Naruto shouted loud enough for them all to hear him over the machinery, all for theatrics of course.

By the time he was finished speaking, he was already back with the group. Standing like he had never left.

After getting out of their stunned state, Worf and Geordi checked out all fo the ships major systems to see there was nothing wrong with them. In fact, just the opposite.

"Well, that trick you did didn't hurt the systems, but it did do something to them." Geordi stated and Sakura started pounding on the dumb blond.

"Our warp field efficiency has increased by point zero three percent. Weapon targeting efficiency has also increased by point zero point eight percent. Shield strength increased by thirteen percent." Worf listed off.

"Wait, what?" Sakura said in between slapping some sense in her blond companion.

"He has increased the ships systems performance and efficiency. It wasn't much, but it has increased." Geordi confirmed.

"How is that possible?" Sakura continued to ask while keep Naruto in a choke hold.

"I'm not sure, but the evidence shows otherwise. I think when he reappeared, the flash of Theta band energy that he put out had some residual effects that our systems absorbed like a sponge and had positive results. I think it might have been a fluke, so in the future, do what you did further away from these systems." Geordi said.

"He'll keep that in mind." Sakura said sweetly.

"Won't you?!" Sakura growled as she tightened her grip on Naruto's neck.

"Y-yes Sakura-chan. Please let go..." Naruto wheezed out.

Satisfied, Sakura let him breathe.

Naruto stumbled away as he gasped for air. "Geez.. I thought you would have stopped that by now..." Naruto said as he tried to catch his breath.

"So long as you continue to act like an idiot, I will continue to beat some sense into you. And here I thought Hinata would have done that by now." Sakura spat, only to see a seriously hurt expression cross Naruto's face.

"The feeling is mutual. I thought Sasuke was going to mellow you out." Naruto said back.

Sakura now had the same hurt expression that she saw in Naruto's face. Her feelings were hurt deeply because of the letter she wrote to Sasuke. Then it hit her.

"Lt. Worf, sir? Can Naruto and I be excused to talk privately? We have some things we need to work out." Sakura asked.

"This was pretty much the end of the tour for now. Your meeting will begin in an hour, so you have that time to converse." Worf stated.

"Sakura..." Naruto said.

"There is something we need to discuss, Naruto." Sakura said softly as she walked to the nearest turbo lift with Naruto in tow. As they entered the lift, Sakura announced the location they needed to go. A few minutes later, they arrived in their quarters, to which Sakura broke the ice.

"First off, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It seemed like Hinata is a touchy subject with you for some reason. Did something happen?" Sakura asked with concern.

"It's nothing, just... I'm sorry I brought up Sasuke. I know it's tough for you, him being gone all the time. And this five year trip definitely isn't helping things. So what do you say we just drop it, please?" Naruto begged.

"That's... one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.." Sakura said hesitantly. "Sasuke and I... We haven't been on good terms lately. During the time he was home, he was always acting like a dickhead towards me. So much so that I began looking forward to the moment he would leave again." Sakura started.

"What? That freaking Teme. Sakura why didn't you tell me? I would have knocked some sense into him."

"I didn't want you to get involved...like you always do..." Sakura explained sadly.

"Sakura, I'm your friend, you can confide in me right?" Naruto asked, a little hurt that she still saw herself as a burden in his eyes. It just wasn't true.

Sakura nodded, cursing herself that she was so close to shedding tears.

"Hey now, it'll be ok, you'll see. In 5 years time Sasuke will be missing you like crazy. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right?" Naruto smiled.

"Something tells me he's not going to be there for me when I return." Sakura said sadly.

"Don't say that. Sasuke might be a bastard and a jerk. But he is the most loyal guy I know to those he cares about."

"That's the thing Naruto! He doesn't care about me! He even said so himself!" Sakura shouted, tears now pouring down her face.

Before Naruto could respond, red lights started flashing and an alarm was sounding throughout the ship.

"Ensign Uzumaki and Ensign Haruno, report to the bridge immediately." Sounded a voice that sounded a lot like Picard.

"Let's go Sakura!" Naruto cried, his brain switched over to soldier mode. Sakura nodded and quickly ran beside him.

Sakura and Naruto dashed to the nearest turbo lift and got inside.

"Bridge." Sakura announced and the doors closed. after a few minutes, they stepped out onto the bridge. This was an area they had never been to before so they seemed to be lost.

Picard stood up on the other side of a curved desk looking object that Worf was standing at. The area they were standing on was a raised platform that had two low angle ramps that descended to the command seats and two forward control seats at the very front of the bridge.

"Over here." Picard sounded.

The two Shinobi ran up to their commander and stood at attention.

"Captain Picard, Ensign Naruto and Ensign Sakura reporting ad ordered, sir." Naruto barked out, remembering how things were done in ANBU.

"Very good. Take the remaining seats next to Commander Riker and Counselor Troi. We have a bit of a situation on our hands." Picard stated as he looked at the view screen. The two Ensigns turned around and saw 2 oddly shaped ships that seemed to be in a long wedge shape and a pale orange in color. The two Ensigns took their seats, Naruto next to Riker on Picard's right, Sakura next to Troi to Picard's left.

"Mr. Worf, hail them see what they want." Picard ordered.

Worf tapped a few buttons on his console and a beeping noise could be heard. after a moment of silence, Worf shook his head.

"No response sir."

"Counselor. What can you sense from them?" Picard asked.

"Very little. They seem to the planning something, but I'm unable to tell what." Troi said with a British accent.

"Captain, they have raised their shields and have powered up their weapons. They're locking onto us." Worf said seriously.

"Shields up!" Riker commanded, to which Worf complied. He raised the shields just in time as the two enemy ships opened fire and caused the Enterprise to shake and vibrate.

"Return fire!" Picard ordered as Worf pressed more buttons on the console. On the screen, red glowing orbs shot from the ship as did golden beams of light and hit one of the ships, destroying it.

As they did all this. Sakura and Naruto could only hang on to rather chairs for dear life. Naruto hated this feeling. Of being right in the middle of all the action yet he could to nothing to help the situation.

"The remaining ship is warping out of the system." Worf stated.

"Stand down from red alert." Picard ordered. Soon the klaxon and the red lights stopped. "Damage report."

"We sustained minor damage, no casualties." Worf stated.

"Sir, I don't mean to talk out of turn, but what the hell was that?" Sakura asked in fear to her captain.

Picard eyed Sakura. "Those were Cardassian raider ships. More than likely trying to raid our supplies."

"So space pirates?" Naruto said.

"Correct, Ensign." Riker stated. "There have been more of them popping up through out this sector. I guess they weren't expecting to run into the Federation Flagship."

Picard sighed as she straightened up.

"Well, since we're all here, save for Dr Crusher, I think we can get your meeting started now." Picard announced. He then tapped his combadge. "Bridge to Dr Crusher."

'Go ahead, captain.'

"Report to the bridge for a senior staff meeting." Picard ordered.

"On my way." Crusher stated.

Picard, Deana, Riker and Data stood up and made their way to the door leading to the staff lounge with Naruto and Sakura following behind with Worf.

They walked into what was obviously a meeting room of sorts, with a view of the entire rear of the ship from the top down. After they saw a flash of light appear behind the ship and then stars and space particles flying by at a much faster pace, Geordi walked in form the bridge followed by Dr. Crusher. All of the senior staff took their seats with Picard at one head of the table. Sakura and Naruto took two remaining empty seats.

"Ensign's, please stand and state your names and experiences to my staff." Picard ordered.

Naruto and Sakura stood up and took their stances at attention.

"Naruto Uzumaki: former Jounin squad leader and active ANBU Captain serving under the Fifth Hokage Tsunade Senju. My expertise is in front line fighting, infiltration, and support." Naruto listed off.

"Sakura Haruno: former Jounin class Medical Ninja and active ANBU Medic under the Fifth Hokage Lady Tsunade Senju. I specialize in medical treatment; both front line and civilian hospitals. As well as infiltration and close quarters combat." Sakura listed off as well.

"Explain to us what this ANBU is." Picard ordered.

Naruto stepped forward. "Sir, the special operatives hand picked to serve the Hokage. Specializing in all things black ops."

"Impressive." Worf commented.

"And this Hokage. What is that exactly? You said it was a person so it must be a rank of some kind." Riker stated. He was a relatively tall man with dark hair and a thick but short beard in a red uniform similar to Picard's.

"Our Lady Hokage is the leader of our home, the Hidden Leaf Village." Sakura explained. "She acts as both the military leader of the Land of Fire and the mayor of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. She is to be considered the strongest and greatest ninja of our village."

"And yet in her reports of the two of you, she states that you two are far stronger and more skilled than she is." Picard stated.

"Apologies, but it is not our place to discuss the specifics of our village's strength to foreigners." Sakura stated, using the response the ANBU taught them to use when politely refusing to give away secrets.

"You can put it this way. If there was a top 10 strongest in the village. Me, Sakura, and Granny Tsunade would be on it." Naruto said, breaking out of his serious facade for a second.

"Oh, I understand completely. We have a similar code of conduct that we unfortunately broke to recruit the two of you." Picard stated. "We have something called, the Prime Directive. It dictates that we are forbidden to make contact or interfere with a non-warp capable world such as your own. However, being that your planet is home to several Human colonies, the Prime Directive did not completely include you."

"However.." Picard continued. "Since your world has no knowledge of space faring parties such as the Federation or even the knowledge of other species in the galaxy, When you return home, you would be forbidden to share what you have learned during your stay here. Your Lady Tsunade was also made aware of this as well and she said that a swift and severe punishment would await either of you should you break the code that is the Federation Prime Directive." Picard warned.

"Understood. We ANBU and ninjas as a whole are experts at keeping secrets." Naruto said.

"Good." Picard stated. He then looked upon his staff. "What do you think of these two?"

"They have the look of warriors and their military background is impressive. I would like to see them in actual combat soon." Worf stated with pride.

"Sakura has shown that she is very skilled as a medic. We had a little boy come in to sickbay earlier in anaphylaxis shock. Sakura used some kind of energy that healed the boy in a matter of moments, far faster than any of our medical equipment." Crusher said.

"They are eager to learn from what I have seen. They have already learned a great deal just being here a few hours and are absorbing what they learn like a sponge." Geordi praised.

"I sense a great deal of pride, honor and duty in the both of them. They are willing to lay down their lives to protect the ones they care about. I feel they would be a great asset to the ship." Troi stated.

"I...Also sense a great deal of emotional pain coming from Naruto. A pain that would take many years to be this strong." Troi added.

"Well then, If that is all..." Picard said as he stared at the two Ensigns. "Are their any questions for us from you two?" Picard asked

"Yes actually, I'm not certain what is it you are expecting us to do. I understand we are here to act as your bodyguards, but why was it worth it to break your Prime Directive?" Naruto asked.

"That was Starfleets call, not mine." Picard stated. "You see, they felt it prudent that I should have some top end body guards after I was captured and assimilated by the Borg. Klingon warriors would have been fine, however, they have a massive superiority complex. No offense Worf."

"None taken, sir." Worf stated.

"It was brought to my attention by Admiral Janeway that your planet held some of the Galaxies best warriors that would be perfect body guard material. I was against this at first, but when I looked upon your profiles and learned that your world is inhabited by Humans, I decided that you two were the perfect ones to help get the Admirals of Starfleet off my back. Also, According to Tsunade, she felt that this would be an important experience for the both of you." Picard explained.

"I see. And why do you need bodyguards after being...what did you call it?"

"Assimilated. Transformed, if you will." Picard stated. "The Borg are a race of cyborgs that expand their race by capturing and assimilating any and all life forms by turning them into one of their own. The Borg have been known to attempt a recapture of any drone taken from their collective at all costs, so any knowledge that drone would have wouldn't fall into, what they would call, an insignificant race's hand. In short, The Borg are still searching for me and will stop at nothing to re-assimilate me into their collective. This is why Starfleet wanted me to be protected by two strong and very capable warriors."

"How did you ever become free of the Borg?" Sakura chimed in.

"My crew rescued me and severed my connection from the collective mind that is the Borg. However, I retained all of the knowledge that I acquired from the Borg and shared it with Starfleet. Because of that, we were able to create stronger weapons, better defense capabilities, and ships designed specifically to stand up to a Borg ship." Picard answered.

"When Captain Picard was captured, he was under the control of the Borg and with just one ship, wiped out an entire fleet of starships." Riker added. "While our fleet may be larger than back then, it still takes a fleet of 30 ships just to take down a single Borg Cube, let alone a fleet of Borg ships."

Naruto whistled. "Woah."

"Woah indeed." Worf stated.

"What makes the Borg formidable, even on the ground, is that their drones have the ability to adapt to our weapons frequencies." Picard added.

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"When the Borg adapt to our phasers, our attacks essentially have no effect and have to change frequencies, which takes time to do." Data explained.

"What about melee attacks?" Naruto asked.

"Melee weapons we noticed have the greatest effect on them, however we run into the risk of being assimilated. The Borg drones have a device on them that inserts into your skin and injects nanites, or microscopic robots that slowly transform a persons body into one of their own." Riker explained.

"Hmmm..." The Shinobi duo paused in thought, each contemplating what could be done to fight an opponent you couldn't get close too. It was Naruto's chunin fight against Neji all over again.

The blond snapped his fingers. "Shadow Clones."

"I beg your pardon?" Picard said in confusion.

"Shadow Clones, another technique of mine, my signature technique actually." Naruto replied while Sakura had flashback of the thousands of times she had seen thousands of Naruto's.

While Sakura was day dreaming about Naruto, the real Naruto made his favorite hand sign and two complete replicas poofed into existence standing on either side of him. "Ta-Dah!"

Picard stood up in shock so he could get a better look at these clones. He saw that they were exact replica's of Naruto and were completely solid, like he was actually cloned in a lab.

"Extraordinary..." Picard breathed out.

"But how would they fair against an attack?" Riker asked.

"This jutsu of mine allows me to create any number of clones I want, so long as I have the chakra. They are as strong as me, they know all my techniques, and they can think and act on their own." The original explained.

Then the Naruto on his left spoke up. "The only downside is that one good hit will dissipate us."

Then the Naruto on the right. "On the plus side, any knowledge or memories we had acquired during our time gets transferred back to the Boss when we die."

"That sounds very useful." Picard stated.

"How many of these can you make?" Riker asked.

"All at once? 1,000...10,000 if I get really riled up."

"That would be more than enough to take out a Borg cube from the inside." Riker said to Picard.

"Two of them, actually." Picard corrected.

"I would like to try something, with your permission, Captain." Worf sated and Picard nodded. Worf pulled out a small hand phaser and shot a thin golden beam at one of the clones, causing it to disappear. "My apologies, Ensign. I wanted to test their durability."

"No worries. Now I know how it feels to be shot by a phaser. It hurts." He turned to his partner. "We'd better avoid those, Sakura-chan." Naruto joked. She responded by lightly back handing him on the chest.

"That was only on the stun setting." Worf stated as he aimed the phaser at the other clone, this time it was set to kill. He shot the phaser and the beam continued through the clone after it dissipated. "That was kill. My apologies again."

"Again, no skin off my bones. But like I said, they aren't extremely durable, but for reconnaissance they are invaluable. With enough clones, I can still overwhelm the enemy even when they all have phasers."

"That's a very good idea. Mr Worf. See to it that both Naruto and Sakura are trained in Federation weaponry." Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir."

"Now, if there is nothing further, I have one last thing I want to say." Picard stated as he waited for the ninja's response

"Actually, Captain. I think we need to learn more about Sakura's abilities." Crusher stated. "I have seen some of her abilities first hand and I feel she would also be a great asset to the ship."

"Agreed. Sakura?" Picard stated.

"Well you already know about my medical abilities, I'm just not sure how to demonstrate my combat abilities." She replied innocently.

"What is that mark on your forehead?" Riker asked.

"Oh yeah. It's my master's special technique, by storing chakra in my forehead I have a potential supply of at least 10x my usual amount of chakra. Using this I can activate my master's technique: The Hundred Hand Seal." Sakura released the seal for a bit, allowing her purple diamond to grow across her skin like purple ribbons until her limbs were covered with them.

"In this form my cells regenerate automatically. Allowing for more risky behavior on the battle field while increasing the power of all my techniques."

Crusher, being the doctor and scientist she was, walked over to Sakura and scanned her further, gasping in shock at what her scans found.

"Remarkable. Her Cell regrowth rate has increased by 200% and her metabolism has also increased by the same amount." Crusher said.

"I am picking up a high level of Theta band energy emanating from the seal. She is putting out enough energy to power one of our shuttles." Data stated.

Naruto smiled at how much awe Sakura was getting. Being the third teammate to him and Sasuke, she was often overlooked when in many ways she was equal in strength to both Naruto and Sasuke. It was nice to see her get the attention she deserves.

"We'll test out both of your combat skills at a later time. This room is far too small to do that." Picard stated.

"Plus if we let Sakura-chan test out her strength she'd blow a hole in the side of the ship." Naruto casually mentioned.

"Amusing joke, Ensign." Riker stated.

"It's not a joke, Sakura's got monster strength." Naruto replied, much to the irate of said monster strengthed kunoichi. "I once saw her rip a mountain in two."

"It was only a plateau..." Sakura blushed.

"After the skills you two have already displayed, I am not surprised super human strength is a factor here." Picard stated.

"But a hole through the side of the ship, sir?" Riker stated.

"That might be a bit of a stretch." Picard said, earning a tick mark from Sakura. "Our ship is made of materials stronger than your world has on hand."

"The hull of the Enterprise can bounce smaller asteroids off of it with little damage. The outer hull is made of several layers of Tritanium and diburnium." Geordi stated.

"Yea, we have no idea what that is." Naruto stated.

"In time you will." Picard stated.

"Well either way, that about sums up our powers." Sakura stated.

"Very good." Picard said as he and the rest of the senior staff stood up. Immediately Sakura and Naruto stood at attention. "As I have said before, I run a tight ship. I have a zero tolerance policy for insubordination. should I find out that either one of you have disobeyed orders, you will both be on a one way trip back home after a formal hearing from Starfleet. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." They both replied.

"Sakura. During the time you are not performing your body guard duties to me, you will be working in sickbay with Dr Crusher as the ships second doctor. Naruto, you will be on the bridge working closely with Lt. Worf at tactical. During both of your down time, you will be reading and studying Federation history and going over the ships systems and layout. I want you both to know every nook and cranny of this ship. You may use your shadow clones if necessary to explore the ship so long as you can memorize it completely, starting tomorrow after your shift. We do not have a pay system. You work when you are expected to. Federation economics are different than yours, we do not work for a paycheck, we work to better ourselves and others. Do you understand?" Picard asked.

"Um, no actually. Are you saying that we are not getting paid for our time on this ship?" Naruto spoke up, concerned that they had just been tricked into a charity job.

"Lady Tsunade said she would pay us when we get back home, Naruto." Sakura pointed out.

"If you'd like, we can supply you with replicators and medical technology for your village when you leave." Picard stated.

That got the two ninja's attention. Money was money, but the technology here could propel the Leaf forward by hundreds of years.

"Deal."

"Perhaps we could throw in some gold pressed latinum?" Riker suggested to Picard which got the two ninja's attention further.

"10 bars for each year of proper service?" Picard shot back.

"Something like that." Riker said.

"Alright we can do that. So on top of the technology, we'll throw in 50 bars of gold pressed latinum. Latinum is a rare silver liquid used as currency by many worlds, most notably the Ferengi Alliance. Latinum cannot be replicated and the reasons for its rarity are unknown. Latinum is usually suspended within the element gold to produce the currency Gold Pressed Latinum" Picard explained.

"Gold has value back on our planet. How much is that compared to regular gold?" Naruto asked.

"A single bar, going by your worlds currency, equals to about 50 bars of pure gold." Picard explained, to which Naruto and Sakura went slack jawed.

Ryo signs appeared in their eyes. In perfect Naruto fashion, he scooped Sakura up and twirled her around. "WERE GONNA BE RICH, SAKURA-CHAN! HA HAAA!" Sakura couldn't help but whoop along with him. Completely forgetting they were still standing in front of everybody.

"Ahem.." Picard said, trying to get the attention of the two Ensigns.

It didn't work, the two of them were busy figuring out exactly how much their gold would be worth.

"So 2,500 standard gold bars...assuming they use the same sized ingots we use...that comes to about..." Sakura whispered, trying to do the math in her head... "...10 Billion Ryo..."

Picard rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to get anything out of them for a bit. Data on the other hand, pulled out a single bar of gold pressed latinum and showed it to the two ninja's. It was a relatively flat bar compared to their own, however that bar along weighed more than their typical gold bar.

The two Shinobi saw the hold bar and snatched it uo, bulking under the weight, but quickly righting themselves. They turned it over hand in hand while giggling to themselves at how rich they were going to be.

"Are you two finished?" Picard asked with annoyance in his tone.

They looked up at the captain while cradling the gold ingot like their own new born child.

"Oh right, yes, sorry sir." Sakura apologized while handing the gold bar back to the Star fleet captain.

"It is alright. You can do your celebrating back in your quarters." Picard stated to which the two nodded. "You will be expected to arrive at your stations at 0400 hours tomorrow. For now, you are dismissed." Picard stated.

As one, they resumed their stances.

"Sir!" They shouted as they turned on their heels and left the room as per their orders.


	2. Chapter 2: First Day New Troubles

**Starting this chapter, the rating of this story will be changed to M due to an unforeseen lemon scene in chapter 3.**  
 **Aside from that, holy cow people! We're flattered that you all have shown this story such attention! As such, we busted our asses to put together two additional chapters. This one is finished and the next one is currently being edited. Thank you all for showing your interest in our second cooperative fanfic.**

* * *

It was 0300 hours and the alarm Sakura had set, with help from Dr. Crusher on how to work the computer controls on the night stand next to her memory foam bed, had gone off softly, lightly stirring Sakura out of bed.

"Computer, increase light by 20%" Sakura said sleepily as the computer increased the light intensity to where the room was softly lit. "That has to be the best night's sleep I have ever had." Sakura said quietly as she stretched and swung her feet out of bed.

Sakura got up, wearing little more than her shorts. she picked up a robe that she replicated last night before going to bed and put it on. Of course it's pink, her favorite color. She pressed the button on the side of the door and it opened into the living room.

The room was still lit up from last night. it was brighter than the lighting Sakura had set her room at, but she was able to adjust. She then walked over to the replicator to get herself some breakfast.

"Coffee, two shots of vanilla creamer, no sugar." She commanded.

The replicator hummed and a mug of piping hot coffee the way Sakura wanted it was ready. She blew on it once then took a sip. _'Perfect.'_ She smiled.

Just then, Naruto's bedroom door opened and out slithered a very tired looking Naruto in nothing but his boxers.

"Ugh...Morning Sakura..." Naruto groaned as he walked up to the replicator. "Coffee, strong, black." Naruto said and his coffee was ready in mere seconds.

"Good morning to you too." Sakura said in between sips. She turned her head to look at the sleepy blond. "Black huh? I always took you for a cream and sugar kind of guy."

"Need it black today. Didn't sleep well."

Naruto downed his mug of coffee like he drank a shot of whiskey. He slammed the mug down on the table and let out an audible sigh.

"Kahoho... Damn!" Naruto gasped out. "Oi... Bad idea."

"Idiot, what am I going to do with you?" Sakura sighed.

"Ugh..." Naruto groaned as his body shuddered. "You wouldn't like me any other way and you know it."

"True...come here for a second."

Naruto shuffled his feet over to Sakura to see what she wanted.

"Stick out your tongue."

"Why?" Naruto asked, still half asleep.

"Just do it."

"Ugh... alright..." Naruto said as he stuck his tongue out.

Sakura took out her index finger covered with her glowing green mystic palm jutsu. Ever so lightly, she traced it down his tongue without actually touching him. The healing aura cured his burnt tongue in an instant.

"Next time, ask for lukewarm coffee or something." She smirked before turning around to continue her own morning rituals.

"I honestly didn't even notice." Naruto yawned out.

"Call it woman's intuition." Sakura said as she ordered a fresh poppy seed muffin with a side of butter.

"Miso po-"

"Computer, Belay that order." Sakura ordered, to which the computer beeped in compliance.

"Sakura! What the hell?!" Naruto exclaimed in protest.

"I said I wouldn't let you eat Ramen for every meal and I meant it. One day you'll thank me." She said while spreading her butter onto her freshly baked muffin.

"So what the hell am I supposed to eat then?" Naruto protested.

"Lt. Worf said there are over 2 million entries in the computer's memory. Pick one that isn't ramen."

"Oh for crying out loud..." Naruto said in indignation. "Um... Damn, what do people normally have for breakfast..." Naruto thought.

"Try fresh fruit, or their poppy seed muffins. They are amazing..." Sakura said dreamily as she sunk her teeth into another bite of the fluffy goodness with a hint of butter.

Naruto sighed. "Well, you've been wanting me to expand my pallet for years now. I guess now is as good a time as any..."

"What better chance to explore new things then while we spend our days exploring the far reaches of the universe?" Sakura suggested.

"Good point."

Naruto looked upon the screen that held a menu for all the different kinds of food in the computer's memory. He went under the breakfast submenu and found something interesting. "Plomeek soup... and... buttermilk pancakes with butter and syrup." Naruto commanded.

"Soup and pancakes?" Sakura asked raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"You want me to try different things." Naruto said in annoyance. He grabbed his plate and bowl and sat down at the table. "Okay, this soup looks like baby shit."

"Yeah, just... it's an interesting choice." She defended.

"Computer. What is Plomeek soup?" Naruto asked the computer.

"PLOMEEK SOUP IS A VEGETARIAN SOUP THAT IS MADE ON THE PLANET VULCAN." The computer answered.

"Is that a human dish?" Sakura asked.

"NEGATIVE. IT IS A DELICACY TO THE VULCAN RACE." The computer answered back.

"So it's alien soup... This oughta be interesting." Naruto said as he dipped his spoon into the soup. It had the consistency of green sludge, but he was never one to give up on something. He took a spoonful of the soup into his mouth and examined the flavor.

"Well? What does it taste like?" Sakura asked, genuinely curious.

"hard to say... It really doesn't have much flavor. But if I were to give it one, I'd say something along the lines of soldier pills." Naruto said.

"I think I read that the Vulcan people don't much care for emotions. I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't care much for flavor." Sakura said.

"You want to try a bit of it? It's not bad, it's just... meh..." Naruto offered.

"Sure." Sakura said, leaning forward to take a spoonful. The soup was...like the tomato soup without the tomato paste. "Huh, you're right. Weird."

"Isn't it? Okay, this has got me curious. I wanna know what other kind of stuff they got." Naruto stated as he got up and vent back to the replicator to look at the menu. There was something else that crossed his eyes that sounded good. "Hasperat." Naruto ordered and a plate of what looked like green tortilla wraps appeared.

"And just what in the name of that rabbit eared bitch of a goddess is that?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure." Naruto said as he sniffed the dish. "Smells good though."

Sakura got a whiff of it too. "Yeah it does. Computer, some Hasperat for me too, please."

Without a second thought, Naruto picked up one of the halves of the wrap and bit into it, savoring its flavor. It had a very crunchy texture and was another vegetable dish. It was sweet, slightly bitter, and hot. Like, very hot.

"It's good, but it's spicy as hell!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura took a bite of hers as well and her face went red as the spice of this dish hit her tongue.

"Ah...AHH! Computer! Milk!" She cried.

"SPECIFY TYPE." The computer stated.

"I Don't care! Plain Milk! From a cow!" Sakura exclaimed and a glass of ice cold milk appeared, to which Sakura slammed down in an instant. "Okay..." Sakura gasped out. "Fuck that dish!"

"Actually, the spice calms down after a bit. This is pretty damn good." Naruto said as he finished his plate. "You gonna eat yours?"

Sakura was too busy chugging down milk to answer.

"I take that as a yes." Naruto stated as he took Sakura's plate and gobbled down her Hasperat. "Yum..." He said with a sigh.

"You're crazy." She sputtered. Honestly she did not need this kind of excitement in her morning routine, but trust Naruto to spice things up.

"Nah, your tongue just isn't as refined as mine to the finer things." He teased.

"Oh, this coming from the guy who eats nothing but ramen on a daily basis?" Sakura shot back.

"Well, now its ramen AND Hasperat." Naruto said as he stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah yeah, yuk it up." Sakura teased.

"You wanted me to expand my pallet, and I have. I wonder what else there is." Naruto said as he checked the menu again.

"Ok ok I get it. Computer, what time are we scheduled to arrive at our work stations?"

"0400 HOURS. IT IS CURRENTLY 0320." The computer stated.

"Shit, we've got plenty of time." Naruto commented.

Naruto continued to browse the menu when he found something that Sakura would absolutely love. If there was one thing he knew about girls, it's their affection for sweets.

"Tholian chocolate mousse." Naruto ordered and Sakura perked her head up at the mention of chocolate.

"Deserts for breakfast, really Naruto?" Sakura asked trying to hold on to her shred of willpower.

"Oh come on, Sakura-chan. We gotta celebrate our first day on the job right? How often do we get accommodations like this?" Naruto smirked, he knew he had her.

Sakura thought it over. It was true, even on the most high profile missions guarding the Daimyo or even the Hokage on diplomatic missions the most they could hope for was a decent hotel room to leave their things while they guarded the perimeter. Being on a space craft was like a five-star luxury vacation.

"I know you want it~" Naruto sang teasingly.

"Just shut up and give it to me." Sakura ordered to which Naruto happily complied.

One bite was all it took for Sakura to be in utter oral bliss. The chocolate was the richest tasting chocolate she had ever had. As it should as it was made with cocoa beans that have aged for 400 years.

"Oh my God, Naruto have you tried this?" Sakura joyfully hummed.

"No I haven't but I will." Naruto stated as he dipped his spoon into the pudding and ate it. "Mmmmmm... Damn that's good."

"Hey, what about we try some Klingon food?" Naruto stated as he looked through the menu under Klingon dishes.

Sakura scrapped off the last of her chocolate mousse off of her plate.

"How about tonight? We definitely don't want to pull a Kakashi on our first day." She pointed out. That got the blond's attention.

"Oh shoot, you're right." He wolfed down one of the pancakes he never got around to try before getting up to take a quick shower.

Likewise, Sakura left her dishes on the table (figuring some futuristic space technology would clean it up for them) and made her way to her own bathroom.

After they finished getting ready for their day, Sakura and Naruto met each other in the living room to part ways for their assigned duties.

"Well, uh... I guess this is the start of a new adventure." Naruto stated shyly.

"More like a new chapter in our lives. I just wish our friends could be here for this." Sakura responded.

"True. But when is the last time the two of us did something crazy like travel into outer space together, just the two of us?" Naruto asked.

"We've never traveled into space. As far as the two of us, well, that's when we were still chasing after Sasuke." Sakura said, although the last part hit a tender nerve.

"Right...could have sworn that whole fiasco was gonna pan out better. But never mind that!" Naruto quickly tried to change the subject in the hopes that it would cheer Sakura-chan up.

"It's a whole new adventure, with new friends, new sights to see, we might even get to punch some stuff. I know how much you like that." He gave her his classic ear to ear grin.

"Yea you're right! Hold still for a minute, I'm a little out of practice." Sakura teased.

Naruto gave a fake pout as Sakura playfully punched his arm, light enough that it actually didn't hurt.

"Well, I suppose we better get going. Find out from Worf what kinds of Klingon foods would best suit our tastes." Sakura said.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm on it." He saluted. Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"You really are something else, you know." Sakura said shaking her head.

"And you're the lucky one. Your station is on deck 12. I'm all the way up on Deck 1." Naruto pouted.

"Well then you better get going before you're late." Sakura said with a smile as she moved to the door.

As she walked, Naruto couldn't help but notice the hypnotic swish in her step- Shit, what was he thinking? That ship had sailed. She was with Sasuke, just like she always wanted to be...

 _ **'And she's stuck on this ship with you for 5 years. No Uchiha for lightyears in any direction.'**_ A voice in Naruto's head tried to sway him.

 _'Hell no, Kurama! I ain't doing that to Sasuke and I'm especially not gonna ruin things with Sakura.'_ Naruto thought back furiously.

 _ **'Whatever. I'm going back to sleep. Wake me when you decide to grow some balls.'**_

Naruto shook his head and followed close behind Sakura. Thankfully Sakura hadn't noticed his quick little chat with the demon fox sealed inside of him.

"Naruto, come on." Sakura shouted as she held open the elevator door.

"Coming!"

* * *

Later, on the bridge of the Enterprise, Naruto was struggling to learn just the basic concepts of using the computer panels. All he could get was the are flat, touch screen panels with multiple colored shapes and that they each do something different. That's about all he could understand.

"This really isn't that hard to understand, Ensign." Worf said with annoyance in his tone. He had been teaching Naruto to use these tactical panels since 0400 hours and here it is 0900 hours.

"Sorry, sir. It's just that this technology is far beyond what I'm used to." Naruto defended.

Worf sighed. "Understandable. However, the controls are labeled about what they do. You need to memorize these contro-" Worf was cut off when the sensor panel started beeping. Pressing a few of the icons on the panel and the results made his blood run cold.

"Captain! Picking up a Romulan Warbird on an intercept course." Worf announced.

"Range?" Picard asked

"They will be on us in 5 minutes."

Picard straightened up in his chair. "Well, let's hold here and see what they want." Picard ordered as she ship slowed to a complete stop.

This didn't sit right with Naruto. He noticed Worf seemed to tense up when said ship was closing in on them and now the Captain ordered the ship to stop and wait for a possible enemy ship to appear?

"Sir! I don't mean to talk out of turn, but this doesn't seem like something we should stick around for!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Your concern is noted, Ensign. However, our first priority is diplomacy, not running away at the first sign of trouble or immediately taking up a defensive posture." Picard stated.

Naruto grumbled but stood at attention. He hated this feeling of being so powerless. On any other planet there would be something Naruto could do, some way for him to act. But here on this ship, his fate was in the hands of a ship full of strangers. One of which, Naruto was supposed to be protecting.

 _'I wonder how Sakura-chan is fairing.'_ Naruto thought.

* * *

Down in sickbay, Sakura was running circles around the medical staff there. It took her less than two hours to get used to all of the medical equipment and the drugs there and she was basically a one-woman medical staff. Dr Crusher was absolutely proud yet stunned.

Sakura was just finishing up auto suturing a patient with an impalement from an accident in Engineering that had a piece of bulkhead through his abdomen.

"I've gotta ask, how did this even happen?" Sakura said halfway from finishing.

"We were working on a power relay when it overloaded and exploded. I took the worst of it." The man said as Sakura finished sealing up the man's wound.

"Sweet Sage, it's a miracle you sustained only this much damage. Does this happen often?"

"not really. It was an old relay and I may have transferred too much power. Doesn't make it hurt any less." The man chuckled.

Sakura flicked him upside the forehead. "Idiot, you remind me a friend of mine and let me tell you. Being careless will catch up to you eventually." She lectured.

"Not the first time I've been told that, honestly. You'd think I'd learn by now, heheh."

"Yeah, you'd think." Sakura said, finally finished. She pulled off her latex gloves. "You're good to go. A few days bed rest and you'll be up and ready to get caught in the next explosion."

She then turned back to the sink to wash her hands, then back around to write some relevant info down on her clipboard.

"I'm going to write you a prescription for Ibuprofen. Take three a day with food for two days and then whenever you need it for pain. Come back immediately if the pain becomes unbearable. Or if the wound reopens. If you don't have any other questions, we'll see you back here in a week for a follow-up." Sakura smiled, ripping off a piece of paper to be used as a prescription.

"Um... Sakura, that's not how we write prescriptions. We send the information to the patient's quarters and the replicator produces them every time a meal is requested until the recommended time is up." Dr. Crusher explained. Sakura was told this, but it seems old habits die hard.

"Oh right, my apologies." She replied, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." crusher waved off as she input the orders into the crewman's replicator.

"Honestly, you have been doing great for your first day and with no formal Starfleet training either. You have impressed me beyond what I thought you were capable of." Crusher praised as the crewman left the sickbay.

"Thank you very much."

Crusher went through her computer terminal, entering in some new information.

"So... How are you two enjoying your stay so far?" Crusher asked. There was no one else in sickbay now and what better way to pass the time then to get to know her new assistant.

"Oh it's been great. Naruto and I had a little feast before we came to work today. Trying out the different foods like this one Vulcan vegetarian soup with no flavor and this other food, I think it's called Hasparat, which was spicy as Hell. I do not recommend it. Naruto seemed to like it though, I think that's just because used to eating spicy foods like ramen all the time. I told him though I wouldn't let him eat the stuff for every meal, it's not healthy. I've been telling him that for years but he never listens. Now that were roommates though, I intend to beat some healthy eating habits into his thick skull."

"As you should. But I will say this, men are stupid. beating them will just make them dumber. Luckily our replicators only serve food that has nutrition that is satisfactory to our diets. At least he likes Bajoran food." Crusher stated.

"I think like is an understatement. He ate all of his then ate mine and then wanted more. He never had much in the line of variety when it came to his diet growing up." Sakura confessed.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it." She replied as her long dormant Inner self sighed at her using their best friend's old catchphrase.

 _'You couldn't help using that, huh?'_

 _'Shut up.'_

"But, how does one survive on just one type of food growing up? Didn't his parents feed him anything else?" Crusher asked in confusion.

 _'Oh here we go...'_ Inner thought.

"No they didn't. Naruto is an orphan." Sakura tried to explain as simply as possible to protect Naruto's privacy. He had spent his entire life working to get past his terrible childhood, the last thing Sakura wanted to do was bring up old wounds.

"Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry to hear that." Crusher said with sympathy.

"It's okay. It's ancient history. Things have gotten a lot better for Naruto ever since his childhood." Sakura said.

"Still though. It couldn't have been easy." Dr. Crusher then started typing something in her terminal, which gave Sakura a bad feeling.

"What are you typing?" She asked nervously.

"I'm putting Naruto on for counseling sessions twice a week with counselor Troi." Crusher answered.

"I don't think that is necessary. He's a fool, but he's not crazy or distressed."

"That you can see. I saw that there was a moment of his past that he was remembering yesterday that pained him. Captain Picard want's all of his officers in proper mental health. I can't imagine that this new setting filled with people he doesn't know is doing his mind any good either." Crusher rationalized.

"Yes but trust me, he's made his peace with his past. Please don't make him bring up those old memories." Sakura pleaded, not wanting Naruto to learn that she blabbed about his private past.

Crusher saw the pleading in Sakura's eyes. It was the same eyes she herself had when she learned that her husband was killed. Then she came up with an idea.

"Tell you what. Have Naruto come down here and I will talk to him with Troi present. She even said herself in your meeting yesterday that she sensed a great deal of emotional pain as is the skill with her race. I won't say anything about you telling me about his past." Crusher offered.

"You're not going to drop this are you?" Sakura replied sadly.

"Per standing orders, I can't." Crusher said. "I know how you feel about this. But this is something that we have to sort out. He could be as you said, but it's part of my job to make sure."

Sakura kept silent. Why couldn't she keep her mouth shut? Now she was going to cause Naruto even more pain, even if it was indirectly.

"Ok then..."

Crusher placed her hand on Sakura's. "It will be okay. Troi is a Betazoid with Empathic and Telepathic abilities. She can help him if he is still suffering. In the meantime, you look like you could use some comfort food." Crusher said with a smile. She turned to her replicator. "Chocolate New York style cheese cake." Crusher ordered and a slice of chocolate cheese cake appeared and she handed it to Sakura.

"What the heck is 'New York' style?" Sakura asked.

"New York is a state in a country called the United States of America on earth. That style is said to be the more richer form of cheesecake."

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much." Sakura smirked. She took the materialized fork and scooped up a bite.

The rich flavor of sweetened cream cheese baked to perfection coupled along with the dark cocoa in the chocolate danced a rambunctious waltz upon Sakura's taste buds as she rolled her eyes up and moaned in complete oral pleasure.

"Please tell me this ship has a training room." Sakura asked between bites.

"We have 3 gyms, 4 holodecks and a bowling alley."

"Bowling?" She asked, licking her fork clean.

"It's a type of sport. Well, some would debate that. It is a game where you roll a weighted ball down a long narrow lane to knock down ten upright standing objects called pins. The object is to knock down all of the pins and reach the top score of 300. Also to avoid getting the ball into two lower section on either side of the lane called gutters." Crusher explained

"Sounds easy." The pink hair ninja said. She had long mastered how to hit bull's eyes with all manner of conventional weapons. How hard could a weighted ball be?

"Sounds it yes, but aiming and then rolling a 16-pound ball down the center of the lane in an angle to where all the pins get knocked down is somewhat daunting. Anyway, how was the cheesecake?"

"Delicious. Do you have any more dishes you could recommend? Me and Naruto plan on trying out some more alien dishes tonight. I asked him to ask Worf what a good Klingon meal was."

Crusher cringed at the thought of Klingon dishes. "I don't like any of them." She said as she shuddered in disgust.

"What really? What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing if you can stomach eating the organs and blood of some unfortunate creature from their world. Some of them raw."

Sakura shrugged. "I've eaten worse, unfortunately."

Crusher turned her head and put her hands up. "I don't wanna know."

"Oh no you don't." Sakura teased. ANBU did not ever guarantee luxuries, or regular meals in the field.

"Well, you'd earn the respect of Worf if you shared a meal with him, that's for sure. Interestingly enough, he can't get enough of prune juice." Crusher stated.

"Eck, I hate prune juice." Sakura said.

"Oh? So you're familiar with that, huh?" Crusher stated.

"Apparently."

"Let me tell you a really good breakfast for you. Scrambled Katarian eggs, biscuits with sausage gravy, Melba toast with jam. Picard and I try to get together every morning to have that before starting our day." Crusher suggested.

"Picard and you, huh?" Sakura said in a voice that suggested there was more going on.

"I know what you're thinking. We have actually known each other since the academy. I married his best friend and had a son. Sadly, my husband died in the line of duty. I know Picard has feelings for me, but he doesn't make a move. I think it's because he respects my husband too much to do something like that. Also, he's not really fond of children." Crusher explained.

"I'm so sorry. But wow, best friends huh? That sounds familiar..." Sakura whispered.

"What do you..." Crusher trailed off when she connected the dots. "Oh... I see... You and Naruto are not together?"

"No, what made you think we were together?" Sakura said, a little shocked at Crusher's presumption.

"I didn't. But I get the feeling that you two have known each other practically forever. I can see it in Naruto's eyes that he feels something for you."

"Well of course. We've been teammates since we were 12 and we were classmates before even then. He's my best friend."

Light years away, a platinum blonde in a purple top sneezed.

"Well best male friend anyway. He used to have strong feelings for me it's true, but that's ancient history. He gave up on me after I started dating Sasuke and then he started dating Hinata."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. Personally, I think you two would make a cute couple." Crusher said as she went over some more medical records to pass the time.

"Excuse me? I'm still with Sasuke. Happily, mind you. And Naruto and Hinata are the top power couple of the Leaf back home."

 _'Happily? Really?'_ Inner stated.

Sakura ignored her Inner self and focused on her conversation with Crusher.

Crusher knew Sakura was putting up a façade to hide what was really going on. She noticed that talking about Naruto made her happy, yet sad at some points and that she couldn't stop talking about him. She rarely brought up Sasuke and when she did, she seemed to be angry about the subject. It seemed like she was unhappy with her relationship, but was hiding it from everyone. But it wasn't her job to pry.

"Never mind. Just thinking out loud." Crusher said to drop the subject.

 _'She knows. I don't know how, but it's evident that she doesn't believe us.'_ Inner told Sakura.

"Right. So let's talk about something else. You mentioned bowling? Do you play?"

"Sometimes. There is a senior staff game later tonight." Crusher said.

"Do you think me and Naruto could attend? I'm sure we'd both find it very interesting."

"You're the captains personal body guards, I don't see why you couldn't. Deck 4 at 1800 hours."

"We'll be there." Sakura smiled. She then went back to sorting through some paperwork of her own.

 _'You know, sooner or later they're going to find out the truth that we-'_

 _'Inner.. Zip IT! They don't need to know about it and Naruto can't know about it. Not now, anyway.'_ Sakura said back, cutting off her inner.

 _'If you say so. But until you come clean, I'll still be here.'_

 _'So why are you here this time, huh? Explain this to me. I thought you left a while ago.'_ Sakura said back.

 _'I don't know. Seemed like things were finally going to get interesting inside your head so I popped back in.'_ Inner explained off handedly.

 _'And you probably have no idea what's going on right now since you just suddenly came back.'_

 _'Oh I've been listening the entire time. Just not commentating.'_

 _'Okay. Well then, so long as you don't impede my work, you can stay. This is probably the most important mission of mine and Naruto's career.'_

 _'Oh don't you worry your cute little brow about that. I've got no intention of hampering the second greatest thing to ever happen to you.'_

 _'Second? What do you mean by second?'_

 _'Never you mind. I've said my piece one too many times before. This time you've gotta figure it out by yourself, Sweet Cheeks.'_

Sakura was going to respond back, but was jolted out of her thoughts when the ship shook violently and the alert klaxon sounded.

"What the Hell was that?!" Sakura shouted.

"We're under attack. Get to your station on the bridge." Crusher ordered

"Aye, Ma'am!" Sakura shouted before sprinting off to the elevator.

* * *

On the bridge.

"Mr Worf! Return fire, full spread!" Riker ordered. The enterprise fired a volley of Photon torpedoes and phasers at the attacking Romulan Warship, doing little damage.

"Their shields took minor damage." Worf stated.

"They're coming around for another run at us." Naruto stated as he looked at the grid map on the tactical panel.

The Romulan warbird shot out green beams and pulse blasts as well as a volley of plasma torpedoes that hit the Enterprise directly. The lights on the ship flickered on and off as the ship was hit.

"Damage report." Picard stated.

"Hull breach on the port nacelle. We're leaking drive plasma." Worf stated.

"Injuries and casualties reported all over the ship. hull breaches on decks 14, 15 and 16." Naruto reported, then he looked at the sensors tab and saw something that let him breathe a sigh of relief. "Sir, the USS Peterson just warped into the system."

Worf looked at the same panel. "Confirmed. The Peterson is Hailing us."

"On Screen." Picard ordered as the captain of the Peterson came up.

"This is Captain Harry Kim of the USS Peterson. Need some help?" Harry asked.

"More than you know. They came out of nowhere and started attacking us." Picard stated.

"Understood. We'll see if we can draw their fire." Harry stated before cutting off the channel. The little Saber class ship quickly moved in between the Enterprise and the Romulan warbird and fired its weapons.

"Minor damage to the warbird." Worf stated.

"We're getting nowhere." Naruto grumbled.

"Agreed, ensign." Picard said. "What do you suggest?"

"I'm not sure, Captain. I'm unfamiliar with ship to ship combat. I always prefer the direct approach in battle."

"Hand to hand?" Riker asked.

"Yeah, up close and personal. Just run straight at them and nail them with my strongest attack."

The whole crew looked at him with a gazes of disbelief, it was starting to make Naruto uncomfortable.

"What? It's served me well in the past."

"Maybe for you, but this situation requires a strategy." Riker stated.

"Sir, the Peterson's shields are down." Worf stated.

"Draw the Warbird away and fire at will." Picard ordered.

"Well when the direct approach doesn't work, I usually send in Shadow Clones to both learn their attack patterns and to act as a distraction while I deliver the crippling blow."

"You said you could make up to 10,000 of those, correct?" Riker asked.

"I can. Would you like to place an order?" Naruto asked, mimicking a made to order chef.

"This isn't the time for jokes, mister! This is a very serious situation." Riker scolded.

"Right, sorry sir, yes I can make as many clones as you need. Granted I'm not sure they could survive very long out in the vacuum of space." Naruto quickly corrected himself. Old habits die hard.

"If we could get the Warbirds shields down, we can just transport you over to their ship." Picard stated.

"And then I overwhelm the crew with sheer numbers." Naruto said smirking.

Sakura then walked onto the bridge and took her seat near Captain Picard.

"Sounds like a plan. Once the shields are down, we'll transport you over there." Picard stated.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Sakura asked, completely overwhelmed by her sudden arrival.

"We're transporting Mr. Uzumaki over to the Romulan warbird if we can get their shields down." Riker explained.

"Alone? Against an unknown number of hostile aliens, he's never even met before on a ship he's never even seen the interior of?"

"Ensign, we're dealing with a very large and hostile Romulan ship that obviously has the ability to destroy us and our aiding ship. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures." Riker said.

"But this is crazy! I'm not letting you go in there alone, Naruto." Sakura said firmly. Naruto however shut her down using the same authoritative tone he had mastered after his time leading the Allied Shinobi Forces during the Battle of the Buuji against Obito and the 10 Tails.

"No Sakura, I know what you are going to suggest, but they need you here on the ship more than I will boarding that Romulan Ship. Besides, if worse comes to worse, then we'll need you here go protect Picard as our original mission entails."

"Your concern is duly noted, Miss Haruno, however my order still stands." Picard said firmly.

"Sir, the Peterson reports they are adrift and are losing life support." Worf stated.

"Beam the survivors on board. I want medical teams stationed at every transporter room, that means you too, Ensign Haruno." Picard ordered.

Naruto gave her a look that urged her on to leave. Mostly because he trusted her as a medic and so she should trust him to be able to fuck shit up and survive.

"Sir, I'm picking up 5 more ships entering sensor range." Naruto said.

"What do you make of them?" Picard asked.

"Two more Romulan Warbirds and 3 of our own." Worf said. "The Hood, Odyssey and Exeter are on route to our location." Worf stated.

"Send me in, Captain. We need to land a decisive blow now or the first Romulan Ship will just take cover behind the other two and repair itself." Naruto deduced. It was a simple enough tactic used by ninjas. It was now or never unless they wanted to turn this into a fair fight for the Romulans.

"There is very little we can do Ensign. Their shields are still up and we can't beam you through the shields." Riker rationalized.

"Sir. I believe if we fire a neutrino pulse at the Warbird, it may be enough to disable the shields." Data suggested.

"Make it so, Mr Data. Mr. Uzumaki, report to transporter room 4 and wait for my say." Picard ordered.

"Aye Captain. Lieutenant Worf, does the ship have any kind of body armor against phasers I could wear? It should make my clones more durable."

"Negative. That is something we do not have. However, the replicator can make you some Klingon armor if you would like." Worf stated.

"I just need one. Every clone I make after that will have it on. Is there a replicator in the teleportation room? Have them start making my armor there."

"There is a replicator there. I will send word to them." Worf stated. Naruto nodded and made his way into the Turbo lift, where Sakura was there waiting for him.

"Transporter room 4." Naruto stated as she doors shut.

"So you're really gonna go through with this?" Sakura said with worry in her tone.

"I've got to, it's the best chance we have. Why, don't you have faith in me?" Naruto asked while shifting his neck side to side to crack it.

"It's not that I don't have faith in you, Naruto. It's that..." Sakura said as she tried to keep her composure. "I almost lost you once... I don't want that to happen again." Sakura said truthfully.

Naruto was surprised, it had been so long since he had last seen this side if Sakura.

"Wow Sakura-chan, I didn't know you cared so much." He said as he scratched his cheek like whenever he did when he was nervous.

"Idiot, of course I care about you. You're my best friend. We're teammates right?" She spoke, almost in a pleading tone.

 _'That isn't all either.'_ Inner stated.

 _'Shut up.'_ Sakura said back.

"Don't worry so much. This isn't like it was 4 years ago. These guys, they only have guns which you and I both know are useless against me. I'll go over there and overwhelm them and be back in time for dinner." Naruto said with his trade mark grin.

Sakura gave him a small smile. "You better. Oh and Dr. Crusher told me that Klingon food is mostly made of sometimes raw guts and blood of animals."

"So a typical ANBU mission meal?" He asked.

"Pretty much." She replied.

"We'll save it for when we get sick of all this amazingly delicious food."

"Agreed."

The turbo lift stopped at Naruto's destination. Interestingly enough, it was also Sakura's.

"Good luck." Naruto said, he knew Sakura would need it with the influx of patients she was about to receive.

"Y-you too." Sakura said hesitantly. "Please come back alive..."

Again, Naruto was shocked by her concern. He had never heard that kind of fear in her voice over anyone. Well, anyone except for Sasuke. Still, Naruto being Naruto, he shrugged it off and focused on reassuring her.

"Don't worry Sakura, I promise I'll come back alive. You know how I always keep my promises, right?" He smiled.

Sakura nodded. "That you do. But it doesn't make me worry any less."

"Would it help if I made it a promise of a lifetime? Then you'll know that I'll come back alive."

"You don't need to do that. You already fulfilled the last one and Even though your dedication was borderline annoying but admirable at times, it still worried me to death even though I didn't show it. Just don't do anything stupid, okay? like blow up the ship while you're over there."

"Well that's usually plan B for these types of missions, but I can probably bump it down to plan C or D, just caused you asked so nicely, Sakura-chan." Naruto joked.

"Just get going." Sakura said as she mock face palmed. Naruto took off running to the transporter room and his armor was there waiting for him.

"Bridge to transporter room 4. Has Ensign Uzumaki arrived yet?" Picard said through the com.

"That's affirmative sir. He just walked in." The transporter chief said.

"Good. Naruto, can you hear me?" Picard asked.

"Yes, sir. Go ahead." Naruto responded.

"We're about to initiate the pulse. Once their shields drop, I will notify you to transport over to the Romulan ship. Once there, you will have about 8 minutes to do what you got to do and get out. Do as much damage as you can and use whatever force you deem necessary." Picard explained.

"Yes sir. Worf, what can you tell me about this armor? Will it stop a phaser or am I just needlessly weighing myself down?" Naruto said while stuffing his feet into his boots.

"It has some resistance to a phaser, but Romulans use disruptors. They are of a different configuration than phasers and are a bit more powerful." Worf explained.

"So will this armor make any difference?" Naruto asked, a little impatient.

"It will protect you to a certain degree, but not if someone has a disruptor set to kill." Worf stated.

"Fuck it! I've already got it on anyway. Captain! How much longer?!" Naruto adjusted the shoulder guards.

"I would watch your tone Ensign." Picard warned.

"Sorry sir, pre-battle jitters."

"Are you sure you can handle this? We can come up with another strategy."

"No, I've got this. Just give me time to prepare my Sage Mode. I need 30 seconds." Naruto said as he fell into his meditative stance taught to him be the Toads all those years ago.

"Sage mode?" Riker asked Picard, the latter of whom shrugged.

"These ninjas are full of surprises going by what I've seen thus far." Picard stated.

"Agreed." Worf commented.

Back in the teleportation room, Naruto had gone completely still, his breathing all but stopped, his mind was calm. Yet something was wrong...

Naruto might have gotten rusty since the 4th War, but it had never taken him this long to gather natural energy.

Sakura stood by and watched as Naruto attempted to gather natural energy. But even she knew something was wrong. He would have gotten into sage mode by now if her were-

 _'That's it!'_ Sakura thought.

"Naruto. You can't use Sage Mode here." Sakura stated.

"Shit, I think you're right. There is not enough nature out here in space. Or any for that matter."

"What about Kurama mode?" Sakura suggested

 _ **'Forget it, Kit. Not until you come clean with the girl about what's been really going on.'**_ Kurama stated.

 _'You'd risk both our lives and all the lives aboard this ship?'_ Naruto thought.

"Kurama is being sassy right now, but I can still use his powers." Naruto replied to Sakura, being sure to transform into his basic Kyuubi cloak for dramatic flare. Naruto's skin and clothes burst into golden flames of chakra with black markings covering his clothes and skin. Sakura could see his eyes had turned into golden fox pupils.

 _ **'No I wouldn't. But this façade has been going on long enough. It has been nearly a month and she still doesn't know the truth.'**_ Kurama stated.

Naruto ignored his inner demon and focused on mentally preparing himself for the battle ahead.

"Captain Picard, I'm ready whenever you are."

"Understood." Picard stated as he turned his attention to Data. "Fire when ready, Mr. Data."

Data input the commands into the computer console. The deflector dish glowed a bright blue and a large beam shot out of it and hit the Romulan Warbird directly.

"Direct hit, sir." Worf said.

"Their shields?" Riker asked.

Data scanned the enemy ship and turned to his superiors. "The beam has dropped the shields."

"Now Ensign." Picard ordered.

"Energizing." The transporter chief said as a Golden Naruto slowly disappeared from the transporter pad. Sakura watched as Naruto was no longer in sight and that was when a single tear flowed from her face.

"Naruto..." Sakura said quietly.

"Don't worry Ma'am." The transporter crewman spoke. "I'm sure your boyfriend will be fine. He looked capable."

* * *

Naruto appeared on the Romulan ship. The first thing he encountered was a squad of Romulan soldiers.

"Intruder!" One Romulan said.

"Awesome location guys..." Naruto grumbled as he launched a Rasengan at the group of soldiers, all but killing them instantly.

' _ **These are the big bad Romulans the Humans were so scared about?'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'Apparently.'_ Naruto thought as he made a handsign. "Let's even the playing field, shall we? Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted as over a thousand clones filled the hallway. "Fan out and take control of the ship. Take out any Romulan you see. Kill them if you have to, but try not to." Naruto ordered.

* * *

During this time, the crew of the Enterprise were able to get a minor reprieve. The Romulan ship had long since stopped firing and had come to a complete standstill. Picard paced back and forth anxiously, waiting for Naruto's call.

"Anything yet, Worf?" Picard asked.

"Nothing, Sir." Worf responded.

"Transporter room 3 to bridge. We have transported the last of the Peterson's crew aboard." Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien said.

"Understood, chief. How many did you get?" Picard asked.

"All 200 members of the crew survived." Miles stated.

"Acknowledged. Picard out." Picard said as he cut the transmission.

* * *

Down below, Sakura was working hard treating the injured crew mates of the nearly destroyed Saber Class.

One patient was giving Sakura trouble, while the others had minor injuries. The patient in question had a slab of bulkhead land on him, crushing him and just about every bone in his body. The man was barely hanging on and Sakura was doing the best she could to keep him alive.

Sakura had to keep one hand on his forehead to intercept the pain signals sent to his brain and dull them. Leaving her only one free hand to mend his broken bones.

Dr. Crusher was doing the best she could to stem the bleeding from the mans damaged organs, causing massive internal bleeding. The Crusher/Haruno doctor duo, so appropriately named by Riker, work together to save this man, because this man is none other than the commander of the Peterson himself, Harry Kim.

'This isn't going to work.' Sakura thought.

"Nurse! I need 20 CCs of Morphine!" She called out, not taking her eyes off of the patient.

"Belay that. 10 CC's of Anesthizine." Doctor Crusher said, to which she received a puzzled look from Sakura. "It is a pain killer and a sedative."

"Better than morphine? Never mind, just tell me when it's in." Sakura said, she needed both her hands to speed up her healing technique.

"It's in." The nurse said, pulling away the hypospray.

"Good! Hold his shoulders for exactly one minute." Sakura shouted as she took her other hand away and focused all her energy into repairing the Captain's rib cage.

The nurse did as she was told and held onto Harry's shoulders as Sakura used her mystic palm jutsu on mending the broken bones.

"I have got to learn how to do that." Crusher said.

Sakura ignored her comment. She needed to focus right now, not debate whether or not Crusher could learn to use chakra. Theoretically it was completely possible, but now was not the time.

"Brace yourself nurse, my numbing jutsu is about to wear off and if the pain killers don't work properly the patient could violently convulse, injuring him further. The pain alone could kill him."

"It should have taken effect already and its stronger than morphine." The nurse said.

"Better safe than sorry." Sakura finished on the area of the rib cage surrounding the patient's heart, now on to the lungs.

"Hold there, Sakura. I still need to repair his liver. Nurse, I need the cellular micro suture." Crusher announced to a nurse near her.

Said nurse handed a device that Sakura wasn't too familiar with. Then she remembered that it was to heal up wounded organs.

Once finished, Dr. Crusher used the auto sutures to close the incision she made to fix the bleeding organ. "You may proceed. I need to work on his intestines now."

"I'm almost done with his lungs. He should be out of the danger zone by then."

"Not quite. His intestines show a large laceration. Laser Scalpel." Crusher ordered as the nurse handed the medical tool over. Using what seemed like a pink beam, Crusher opened the flesh around Harry's abdomen to reveal a large amount of blood and body waste had spilled into his abdomen. "Shit... This isn't good." Crusher said.

Sakura leaned over to look into the incision. "Stand aside please." She commanded Dr. Crusher. without waiting for a response she forced herself in front of the open wound and forced more chakra into the Captain's abdomen.

Using her right hand, she slowed the path of the blood vessels to keep from the abdomen from overflowing further, with her other hand she grabbed ahold of the excess blood and waste that had accumulated. She held it up in her palm as it floated in the glowing sphere of chakra flowing from her hand. "Bucket!"

A nurse quickly brought a waste dish over and Sakura released the contents from her chakra into it. She then brought her hand back down to the Captain's abdomen and began repairing the organ.

Crusher just stood by and watched as Sakura quickly healed the organs affected by the accident. Once Sakura was finished, Crusher used her auto suture and sealed up the incision.

"That was close. Any longer and he would have succumbed to septic shock." Crusher said.

"Yeah, great work, and great call with that pain killer. I don't believe we have specific drug on my home planet."

"Considering that it originated from Earth, doubtful." Crusher said as she removed her gloves. "He's in the clear now. We can treat the minor injuries now."

"Are there no other patients in the red?"

Crusher looked over her medical report PAD and shook her head. "Harry Kim was the worst one. The others are all green."

Sakura breathed a sigh. "That's a relief."

"Nurses, you can tend to the minor injuries. Sakura and I need a break." Crusher ordered and all the nurses nodded their heads. All in all, the amount of injuries was low. Crusher and Sakura made their way over to Crushers desk and the latter walked up to the replicator.

"Two coffees. 2 sugar, 1 cream for each." Crusher ordered.

Sakura massaged her temples, the hustle and bustle of a code red medical emergency was always enough to tire her out. Not that she wasn't ready to keep going for hours more on end. Tsunade didn't train no wimps.

"Here, drink up." Crusher said as she handed Sakura a coffee.

"Thank you." She said simply before sipping the drink.

"You handled yourself exceptionally well. Far better than any ensign nurse I have had. I can see for myself that you weren't pulling my leg when you said you're a seasoned veteran doctor." Crusher praised.

"What can I say? Lady Tsunade doesn't train medics, she trains walking hospitals." Sakura quoted from her ruthless master.

"And I believe it." Crusher said as she started jotting down something on her report for the captain.

"Do you have any textbooks on medicines I could borrow? If I'm going to continue working with you I should know what medicines I have available at my disposal."

"Not here, but you can get them via any PAD device, which you should have a few in your quarters."

"P.A.D.?" Sakura asked after finishing her biggest sip yet.

Crusher held up an object that was flat in design, but had a screen on it that contained medical records.

"My God, so all your books are on this device?" Sakura said with awe.

"It is directly linked to the ships computer. All of Starfleet's medical knowledge is stored in the computer to which you have access to. I suggest during your down time; you do some studying." Crusher said.

"Will do." Sakura became excited. It was a well-known fact that Sakura loved to read as much as Naruto loved to eat ramen. All too often she had been limited from checking out more books from the Leaf village library because she ran out of space in her arms. Now every book she could ever want was in the palm of her hand. The world, no, the universe was her oyster.

"I have never had anyone so eager to learn as you are. Well, save for my son." Crusher stated.

The pink haired bookworm snapped out of her nerdgasm. "Oh that's right, you have a son. How old is he?"

"About your age. He turns 20 next month. Right now he is in the Academy on Earth." Crusher said as she brought up a picture of him at his first year academy induction.

"He looks very handsome; you must be proud."

"I am. he looks so much like his father. I just wish he could find a girl." Crusher said sadly.

"Really? As a girl his age, I can tell you for a fact he'd be beating girls off with a stick back in my village."

"I'm sure. Even now it's like that, but it's like he has little to no interest in them. I have asked him about that and he always says that he's just waiting for the right one."

"Understandable. I never really dated a lot before Sasuke." Sakura commented. "Just give it time. Naruto was also like that until he gave Hinata a chance. Needless to say he found the right one alright..." Sakura said wistfully.

There it was again, that pained look in Sakura's eyes that Crusher couldn't deny. Sakura was having an emotional struggle between Naruto and the one called Sasuke.

"Tell me about Sasuke, what's he like?" Crusher asked.

"Oh he's a really great guy. Mature and strong, drop dead gorgeous, completely dedicated to his goals. He was mine and Naruto's third teammate back when we were kids." Sakura listed off.

Crusher nodded as she got up and closed the door to her office. Sakura was confused as she watched Crusher sit back down. "Tell me what he's really like. It's just you and me here. Anytime you talk about this Sasuke, I see you shifting around, your facial expressions change to sadness and sometimes anger. They are not very noticeable, but as a parent with a child your age, I'm able to see this. Your body language betrays your words. If there is something troubling you, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone else."

Sakura looked at Crusher with a mix of offended and pleading on her face. "You promise...?"

"Yes I promise." Crusher said honestly.

Sakura felt a feeling of nostalgia picturing a whiskered blond saying similar words to her, they gave her the confidence to continue.

"Sasuke is... Really dedicated to his goals. He's currently on a pilgrimage traveling throughout the world to atone for his sins by righting wrongs however he can. Unfortunately, that means that he is rarely at home and when he is it is never more than for a few days before departing again for months at a time."

"I can see where that must be-"

"I'm not done." Sakura interrupted. "When he is home...it's... I don't even know. It's like he doesn't even care about me. I have to initiate EVERYTHING in our relationship. I have to be the one to ask him out on dates and make the plans. Even if it's my birthday and the stars align so that he will be home around that time he still won't surprise me with anything!"

"I try to talk to him about this, getting him to give a little for this relationship to work, but he just brushes me off! And if I push too hard I'm scared that he'll stop coming back home altogether!" Sakura cried, tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"It's like I'm dating a ghost! All the other girls get to see their boyfriends on a regular basis and even get pampered by them. I rarely even see Sasuke and I get a letter from him even less often!"

"I look at Naruto's relationship with Hinata and I envy them so much. I wish my relationship with Sasuke could be just like that. Seeing each other regularly, going on dates whenever we feel like it, not because we have so little time together... you know?"

Crusher walked over and pulled Sakura into a comforting embrace, to which Sakura returned and cried into Crusher's lab coat as she rubbed Sakura's back.

"Let me just ask you this. If he is causing you all of this pain, why stay with him?" Crusher asked softly as Sakura sobbed.

"Because when Sasuke was a boy his entire clan was wiped out. That pain changed him forever and made him do these terrible things that he believes he has to atone for. I wanted to take away all his pain and never let him be lonely again..."

"As noble as that sounds, you are the one living in pain now. He is neglecting you and your relationship and you're suffering for it. You don't need to be in a relationship with him to make him feel less lonely. A strong friendship where you are there to support him is what he really needs. This sounds more like a friends with benefits deal, Sakura. Be to him as you are with Naruto. From what little you have told me about his past, he grew up with no one and yet you two are so close." Crusher said.

"Of course we are. When Sasuke left for the first time, Naruto promised me he would bring Sasuke back to me no matter what. His first attempt at bringing Sasuke back left Naruto in the hospital bandaged from head to toe. It was then that I vowed never to be a burden to Naruto or Sasuke ever again. So I asked Lady Tsunade for training. When Naruto came back from his own training trip we worked together for years to bring Sasuke back. And in the end, Naruto kept his promise just like he said..." Sakura explained sadly.

"And just going by that, Naruto has been more willing to go out of his way for you than Sasuke ever had. From what you told me, he does things for you when you ask him and when it's convenient for him. You need to start thinking about what's best for you, not what's best for Sasuke. There are plenty of fish in this vast ocean and you are going to be away from him for 5 years with no contact whatsoever. From what you told me so far, do you really think he will be there waiting for you when you get back?"

"I know he won't, because I broke up with him before I left!" Sakura admitted, the final dam finally breaking loose.

Crusher finally got what she was hoping to hear and squeezed Sakura a little tighter to comfort the crying girl.

"Just let it all out... This is the first step in having a brighter future and it's always the hardest to make. Just don't hold anything back." Crusher soothed as she tried to fight back tears of her own.

"I-I... I didn't even break up with him because I was fed up with him... I didn't want him to be held down by me...being gone for five long years..." Sakura admitted. "I'm so pathetic..."

"You may have broken up with him over a different reason, but the fact of the matter remains is that you are on track to living a happier life." Crusher said.

"B-but what about Sasuke?"

"Don't worry about him right now. Just focus on you."

"You...you're right (sniff)." Sakura wiped the snot from her nose and the tears from her eyes. Sakura knew Crusher was right about all of this and she was already starting to feel a lot better. But there was one nagging feeling that she couldn't shake. She then looked up to the ceiling to see that the red lights were still flashing. Then she remembered why she was down here.

"We're still under red alert, aren't we? Sakura said quietly.

"Yes we kinda are. I haven't heard anything and the battle seems to have stopped." Crusher said now taking in everything.

"That's good right?" Sakura asked, which was foolish for a soldier to ask. If anything, it was the calm of battle that was the most worrying.

Like some God sent response, the ship violently jostled from side to side, tripping Sakura and Crusher onto their butts.

"Looks like we're not out of the woods yet. I hope Naruto knows what he's doing." Dr. Crusher stated as she hobbled over to the control panel to get a status report.

' _Naruto…'_ Sakura thought to herself. _'Please be safe.'_

* * *

 **Author's Note: samuraipanda85: Guess whose back?**

 **Kurama: Back again?**

 **Inner: Panda's back.**

 **Samuraipanda85: Tell a friend.**


	3. Chapter 3: Strengthening a Bond

**Here is Chapter 3. Warning, there is a lemon present. We weren't intending on there being one in this story, but it kinda lead to that. At any rate, relationship troubles are revealed and a new one is formed. Plus, a war? further details to come in the next chapter.**

* * *

On the bridge, Picard was still waiting for Naruto's reply.

"His time is nearly up. What is-" Picard stated when the incoming communication beep sounded.

"Incoming hail from the Romulan ship." Worf said.

"On screen." Picard stated. The image on the screen changed from the ship to Naruto in front of the view screen with the Romulan captain held at knife point.

"Captain Picard, the Captain here would like to talk terms of surrender." Naruto smiled. Picard and the rest of the crew could see that behind Naruto were at least a dozen clones of himself, all of them standing over unconscious Romulans or holding knifes to their necks.

"Extraordinary work Ensign." Picard praised. "I'm Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Why have you attacked us?"

"I'm not at liberty to say anything to you, Federation dogs." The Romulan captain spat.

"You don't have to. A few of my clones found out already." Naruto said with a smirk.

"What is it they want?"

"They were testing out new defensive and offensive capabilities of their ships in hopes to wipe the Federation off the map. It looks like they want a war." Naruto explained.

"Well they have one. This day has been marked as the day the Romulans made an act of war against the United Federation of Planets. Gather what prisoners you can and return to the ship. The Odyssey, Hood and Exeter should be arriving soon. We have two more warbirds to fend off." Picard said.

"Aye Captain. What do you want me to do with this ship?" Naruto asked as one of his clones roughed up a Romulan that tried to break free.

"I'm more than certain the Federation Engineering Corps would love to get their hands on Romulan technology." Riker said with a grin.

"Agreed, number one. Leave the ship as it is for now and It will be brought back tot he nearest starbase." Picard stated.

"Yes sir." Naruto created a brand new clone and just as quickly dispersed it, transferring all his most recent memories to the test of his clones stationed throughout the spaceship. Each clone forced their prisoner to stand or hoisted their unconscious captive over their shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"Oh and Naruto." Picard started.

"Yes Sir?" Naruto responded.

"I owe you a steak dinner when you get back." Picard said with a grin.

Naruto smiled. "Maybe some other time. Me and Sakura-chan were going to tryout some more exotic foods tonight. Speaking of, do you have any good recommendations?" Naruto asked over the video screen.

"I find that the cucumber sandwiches are.. to die for." Picard stated.

"Chicken cordon blue is good as well." Riker chimed in.

"Ro'Keg Blood pie." Worf stated. "And prune juice. A drink fit for a warrior."

"Prune juice? Eck, no thanks." Naruto commented back as several of his clones made a disgusted face (Even a few Romulans got in on it).

"Then may I suggest some blood wine?" Worf said.

"Is that like a kind of nickname for it or is it actually blood?"

"Of course it's blood. Why would a Klingon nickname a beverage?" Worf stated.

"It actually isn't that bad, Naruto. Just really strong." Riker added.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but fell short. "...I'll give it a shot one day. Sakura and I are bound to get home sick and want to try out some ANBU home cooking. Or I guess in this case, Klingon food."

Then Picard thought for a moment and an idea came to his head.

"I'll be by your quarters later with a gift. Try not to indulge in it too much. Anyway, you have your orders. Picard out." Picard said as he cut the transmission link.

Just as Naruto's clones were ready to get beamed off the Romulan ship, said ship began to jolt and vibrate.

"The hell is going on?!" Naruto shouted.

"Boss, the Enterprise is hailing again." One of the clones said.

"Put it up." The real Naruto ordered and Picard was up on the screen again.

"Mr. Uzumaki, we have a problem. The two inbound warbirds have arrived and are going for you. Our backup is still a few minutes out. We'll do what we can to hold them off, but we can't take two Warbirds on alone." Picard explained.

"Well, ain't this just great." One of the clones said.

"What can we do, Boss?" Another clone asked.

"We can't transport back with the shields up. Try and fire back on the other Romulan ships. Beat some answers out of the crew if you have to." Naruto ordered.

"Sir, there is a Federation ship that just warped in." Naruto overheard Worf on the other end.

"What ship?" Picard asked.

"Sir, It's the Defiant." Worf said.

Outside of the ships, a flat, wedge looking ship opened fire on the nearest Warbird, firing a barrage of pulse phasers and quantum torpedoes. The first warbird was dispatched easily as the Defiant and the Enterprise switched their target to the next one.

On the captured Warbird, the clones fumbled around until they were able to figure out the propulsion and weapons. Without wasting a second, the clones that figured out the controls dispersed and the other clones and Naruto gained their experiences. Naruto assembled a few more clones, those of which manned the helm and tactical controls.

"Take out that remaining Warbird!" Naruto ordered.

The clones nodded and the massive ship maneuvered to intercept the remaining romulan ship. Within an instant, the captured Romulan ship opened fire at the same time the Enterprise and Defiant fired. Within a barrage of phasers, disruptors, plasma, quantum and photon torpedoes, the remaining offending Warbird was destroyed.

"Warbird destroyed!" The Naruto clone manning the radar station cried, rousing a chorus of cheers from the Naruto clone crew.

A chorus of cheers erupted on the bridge of the Enterprise and on the Defiant. They had successfully fended off the first attack of the Romulans, but they were sure more would be coming.

* * *

On the bridge of the Enterprise, the communications panel beeped.

"Sir, Incoming message from Starfleet Command." Worf announced.

"On screen." Picard ordered and the screen now showed Fleet Admiral Paris on the screen.

"Captain Picard. We had gotten reports from nearby sensor buoy's that there were Romulan ships on our side of the border. Can you confirm this?" Paris asked.

"Yes, sir. 3 Romulan Warbirds crossed the Neutral Zone and made an unprovoked attack on my ship. The Peterson is heavily damaged and is adrift. Also, with the help of one of my bodyguard's, we captured a Warbird." Picard explained.

"This is surprising and disturbing news, indeed. What is it that the Romulans want?" Paris asked.

"From what my Ensign told me, they were testing out new defenses and offenses to amass a large scale assault against the Federation. They have unofficially declared war on us." Picard said.

The Admiral pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out an exasperated sigh. "This is the last thing we need. As if the Dominion wasn't enough."

The Admiral looked back up to Picard. "Return to the nearest starbase with the Warbird in tow. Notify any other federation ships in the area to tighten our defenses around the neutral zone. More patrols and more ships will be placed along the border." The Admiral ordered.

"Understood, Admiral. Enterprise out." Picard said as the screen went back to focus on the captured Romulan vessel. "Hail our new ship, Worf." Picard ordered.

Worf did as he was ordered and the screen brought up Naruto, still holding onto the Romulan captain.

"Extraordinary work today, Ensign. Return to the Enterprise and I'll assemble a skeleton crew to take that ship to Starbase 298." Picard ordered.

"You sure Captain? I think me and my boys are getting the hang of flying this thing." Naruto smiled, feeling understandably cocky after taking over an entire starship and then fending off two other warbirds with. Now he felt in control.

"I received word from Dr Crusher. I'm afraid your friend could use your company right now." Picard stated. He only heard from Dr Crusher that she had sent Sakura back to her quarters due to being somewhat emotionally unstable and exhausted from treating so many patients. He didn't get the full story as to why she was like this and Crusher quoted the doctor/patient confidentiality.

This peaked Naruto and his clones' attention.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Is she ok?"

"What happened?"

"She didn't lose alot of patients did she?"

"Beam the Boss aboard already."

"Beam us all aboard."

They all spoke one after another.

"easy.. Calm down." Picard said. "She over exerted herself treating a great deal of patients from the Peterson and is resting in your shared quarters. She also had a bit of an emotional breakdown that Dr Crusher will not divulge to me. She is okay, but she had asked for you when you finished your mission and you have."

Now Naruto was really nervous. Sakura was tough in her own right. Only losing several patients at once could put her in such a state. If it wasn't that, well he had little clue on what it could be.

"Beam me up, my clones can maintain control of the ship until you send in your skeleton crew." The real Naruto said.

"Understood. Transporter room 3, lock onto Ensign Naruto's signature and beam him aboard." Picard ordered. Within a few moments, the real Naruto beamed aboard with the Romulan captain still in his grasp.

"Take him to the brig, or whatever space equivalent of a brig you guys have." Naruto shoved the Romulan Captain into the awaiting arms of a small squad of yellow shirts.

After that, Naruto sprinted to the Turbo lift to which he jumped into. "Deck 8." Naruto ordered. It was an agonizing few moments as the turbo lift took him to his quarters. Once the doors finally opened, he sprinted to his quarters as fast as he could, dodging crewmen left and right. Once at his door, he opened it so see Sakura laying on the couch in her robe, reading Medical materials on her PAD.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, gasping for air after having run so fast. Damn this ship was big.

"...Hey.. Naruto." Sakura breathed out in exhaustion.

Naruto walked into the room slowly.

"Captain Picard told me that said that you weren't feeling good, what's up?" Naruto asked with concern, his heroic deeds he committed just a few minutes ago were now showed to the back of his mind where they belonged. His best friend was his priority now.

Sakura looked at Naruto with a mix of betrayal and hurt. "What do you know?" Sakura said.

"Nothing really. They just said you were feeling distressed and that you wanted to see me, so here I am."

 _'Here you are...'_ Sakura thought. Of course he was, he was Naruto. The boy who was always ready to drop everything for a friend, especially for her back when they were both single.

 _'Well I guess I'm single now...'_ Sakura thought sadly, but she couldn't place why exactly.

"I see. Well, I overdid it a bit treating the patients from the Peterson. The majority of them were minor injuries, but Captain Kim was touch and go for a while. He was in the worst shape out of everyone." Sakura explained. "After we were done with him, I had a lengthy discussion with Crusher."

"You saved him in the end, right?"

"Oh yes, he'll make a full recovery. I didn't lose any patients if that's what your thinking. I'm not bummed out about that..."

"Then why are you upset? Did Crusher chew you out for not following their medical protocol? Cause that's bullshit, you saved every patient you had and I know you could save even more than you treated." Naruto sternly defended.

"No, it has nothing to do with that." Sakura said as she sat up. She patted the spot next to her on the couch. "Sit down. What I talked about isn't very easy to say."

The blond looked at her quizzically but obliged. He sat down and got himself comfortable, as did Sakura, which just do happened to involve her sticking her toes underneath Naruto's pant leg where they would be nice and warm.

"Remember what I said yesterday... About Sasuke neglecting our relationship?" Sakura said hesitantly.

"Yeah you did." Naruto sighed, how he wished he had know about this sooner. He could have talked some sense into the Duckbutt haired idiot. Didn't he realize how amazing Sakura-chan was and how lucky he was to have her?

"That's what our discussion was about." Sakura said softly. "With Dr Crusher's help, I was able to do some self reflecting. I thought I had what I've always wanted since I met Sasuke... but... In reality... I've never been more miserable..." Sakura sobbed.

Naruto went wide eyed. Sakura miserable?

"But I thought this was what you had always wanted? You've loved Sasuke since we were kids and now you've finally gotten your wish to be his girlfriend. Shouldn't you be happy?"

"I know. to be honest, during the time you were out looking for him, I had questioned myself countless times if he was who I truly wanted to be with. I'm still wondering that myself even now. He is gone for months at a time and when he is home, he rarely even looks at me, never mind actually initiating anything with our relationship. I have to be the one to do it." Sakura said.

That sounded familiar to Naruto. Like his relationship with Hinata. She would never suggest anything because she never wanted to do anything Naruto didn't want to do.

"He doesn't acknowledge me, he doesn't give me any praise for the meals I make for him or the work I've done for him during his time away. I think he still sees me as the useless teammate on Team 7 back when we first started out. the last time he was here, we had a huge argument over just me wanting to go out on a date. nothing extravagant, just a simple outing to Ichiraku's. He practically blew up in my face saying that I was nagging him too much to be part of a relationship he just doesn't care about!" Sakura said. This was something that she didn't tell Crusher.

Naruto was devastated, he knew Sasuke could be a jerk, but never anything as bad as this.

All the crap he and Sakura went through to bring Sasuke back, all the shit Naruto went through just to make Sakura-chan happy, the least Sasuke could do would be to put some fucking effort in.

Naruto had no words, so he let his actions do the talking. He enveloped Sakura into a tight hug, praying that she wouldn't misinterpret his motives and slug him through the wall.

Sakura returned the hug with gusto as she cried into his chest. This is what she had been needing for a while and Crusher was the kick in the pants she needed.

Relieved that she wasn't about to cave in his chest cavity, Naruto began rubbing her back in a comforting manner. The same way he did with Hinata whenever something had left her upset.

"I...left Sasuke a letter explaining that you and I will be away for 5 years... Based on what has happened so far, I doubt he will be there waiting for me..." Sakura sobbed.

"If he's not, I'll drag his ass back to the Leaf and then beat the crap out of him until he apologies to you on his knees." Naruto said with conviction.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh, not because she found the idea ridiculous, but because it was just another example of how far Naruto was willing to go.

"Who is he going to cheat on you with anyway? He's already dating the best girl in the world."

"Knowing him, he has no idea what he had until its gone." Sakura said sadly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Naruto that she had actually broken up with Sasuke prior to coming here.

"When he does, you mark my words, he's gonna regret not treating you right. Hell, without you, whose gonna help him stave off the gay rumors?" Naruto joked, to which Sakura burst out laughing.

"You're an idiot!" Sakura laughed out.

"Yes, but as far as the gossip corner in the Leaf is concerned, I'm a hetero idiot. Old Duckbutt is currently up in the air." Naruto joked further, eliciting another round of laughter from Sakura.

"Oh man I needed that. How is it that you know exactly how to put me in a better mood?"

"Privileged gift, come on Sakura-chan, who else knows you best other than you're best friend?" He asked with his famous ear to ear fox like grin.

"Very true. So did you get any ideas for dinner? I'm hungry."

Naruto stood up as he smiled. "In fact I do." Naruto said as he made his way over to the replicator. "Two plates of cucumber sandwiches and two plates of chicken cordon blue." Naruto ordered as both sets of meals appeared before him.

Naruto carefully carried 4 plates of food over to their table and set them down. Sakura showing genuine interest, made her way over to the table and her mouth watered.

"Mmm.. That looks good. Where are these from?" Sakura asked.

"No clue, Captain Picard recommend them. So we can consider these a Captain's special."

"Computer, where do these dishes originate from?" Sakura asked.

"CUCUMBER SANDWICHES ORIGINATE FROM THE EARLY 7TH CENTURY BRITAIN ON EARTH. CHICKEN CORDON BLUE IS ALSO ANOTHER EARTH DISH THAT IS SAID TO ORIGINATE FROM THE LATE 17TH CENTURY." The computer explained.

"Earth dishes, huh? Nice." Sakura said as she sat at the table. She picked up one of the triangles of cucumber sandwiches and took a bite. The watery flavor of the seedless cucumber mixed with the rich mayonnaise created a unique flavor that Sakura just couldn't get enough of.

"Okay, that's good." Sakura said as she ate more of her sandwich.

"Wait a second, 7th century? What century are we in now?" Naruto asked, his curiosity peaked.

"24TH CENTURY, EARTH'S TIME." The computer responded.

"Holy shit, Sakura-chan, we're in the future!"

"No shit... What tipped you off? It obviously wasn't all of this advanced technology." Sakura deadpanned.

"I just this ship could only travel through space, not through time."

"Through time... We're not actually in the future, idiot, we're in the present!"

"But the computer just said-"

"Obviously the people on Earth just use a different calendar than us, so to them it's the 24th century."

Just then, the doorbell to their quarters beeped.

"Come in!" Sakura shouted.

The door opened and in walked Picard and Crusher.

Naruto and Sakura began to stand at attention, but Picard signaled to keep seated.

"No need to get up. You both had a pretty hard first day." Picard said with a smile. He then brought out a bottle from behind his back and placed it on their table.

The bottle read 'Chateau Picard/2309' on the label.

"This is from my private stores from my families vineyard. Please, help yourselves." Picard said.

Naruto took the bottle. "I don't usually drink wine, but thank you." Sakura smacked him upside the head.

"Idiot, don't be rude."

Sakura then noticed what looked like a date. "2309? Was that the year this was laid down?" She asked.

"Yes. It was laid down by my grandfather." Picard said.

"What year is it now?" Naruto asked.

"2371." Crusher stated, to which Sakura's eyes went wide.

"Holy cow... This wine has aged that long?" Sakura said in amazement.

While not a wine connoisseur herself, Sakura had hung around her master long enough to know the best wines were the aged ones.

"This has to be tremendously expensive, we can't accept this."

"Please do. You forget that Earth's economics are very different than your own. We don't work for money, only to better ourselves. I have older wines and I only give them to those I deem worthy to be members of my crew and who I'd trust with my life. You two have done so much in just a day that this is the best way I can think of to thank you for your deeds." Picard said. "Don't make me make it an order." Picard joked with a dry chuckle.

"Well my godfather always said, 'never turn down a free drink.'" Naruto took the bottle of wine over to the counter where he found a bottle opener. "Would you and like to share a glass with us? I think that's the adult thing to do when opening up a gift of wine."

"We'd love to." Picard said. Then crusher brought out a bottle of her own. It was a rather tall, clear bottle filled with a blue liquid.

"This is from my personal stash. It's Romulan ale. I figured this was appropriate seeing the events that took place." Crusher said with a smile.

"A prized drink among the Romulan culture. It's technically considered illegal among space traders, but we won't tell if you don't" Picard said.

"Ninja's honor." Sakura chirped with a smile as Naruto pulled out four glasses.

With a loud pop, the cork to the wine bottle came off and the sweet aroma of fermented black grapes permeated his nostrils. He then poured the dark red wine into the 4 glasses and handed them out to everyone. They let the wine breath for a few moments before taking a small taste. They each swished the alcoholic beverage in their mouths, letting the full flavor stick to each of their taste buds before swallowing the drink.

"Exquisite." Picard said.

"Not bad." Sakura commented.

To Naruto, it felt like a gut punch because the liquor was so strong. But not wanting to offend the captain, he smiled. "That's pretty good." He said.

Picard and Crusher finished up their fine wine and placed their glasses down.

"You can take it easy for a few days if you'd like. Brush up on some studies and history. Just relax for now. Once we get to Starbase 298, You'll be back on duty. Enjoy your dinner and sleep well." Picard said as he started to make his way to the door.

"Wow, day one on the job and we've already earned a vacation. This is gonna be the easiest mission ever." Naruto said as he took another sip of the wine.

"Don't get used to it, Ensign. You still have 5 more years to go and they will not be easy." Picard said.

"Right you are, Captain!" Naruto shouted as the placebo effect of the wine alone had made Naruto the tiniest bit tipsy.

"Freaking lightweight." Sakura snickered. She had already made it on to her second glass.

"Don't drink too much now." Picard said as he and Crusher left their quarters.

Sakura smiled as she looked back to Naruto seeing him slam down the remainder of his glass and pour himself another.

 _'Hoo boy... Better keep a leash on him. Hinata told me he gets horny when he's drunk.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'And that's a bad thing how?'_ Inner commented.

 _'I may be single, but he doesn't know that and he's still with Hinata. That IS a bad thing!'_

 _'Why would you care? You two are going to be gone for 5 years and you haven't gotten any in months and I bet he hasn't either. It's not like Hinata will ever know. I see it as a win win personally.'_ Inner rationalized.

' _Inner, that is his and Hinata's personal business. Besides, they are both my friends and I won't be responsible for screwing up their relationship.'_ Sakura replied.

 _'Yeah right, knowing our dumb luck Naruto will remain nothing but fateful to his busty, fish-eyed princess...'_

"Naruto, our dinner is getting cold. Save the booze for after dinner, eh?" Sakura said.

"Can do Sakura- HIC! -chan!" Naruto giggled. Seriously, what a lightweight.

"You're drunk already? Wow... Hinata wasn't kidding." Sakura said in shock.

"Ah what does she know... She never wants to have any fun with me... HIC!" Naruto slurred.

"Naruto, you're drunk. You don't know what you're talking about." Sakura said.

"Shhshshshshhh.." Naruto drunkingly shushed. "Our relationship is almost like yours with Sasuke...Hic!" Naruto slurred. "It's like I do everything for her so long as its what I want, never what she wants. She's too submissive and timid and it gets annoying."

Sakura went wide eyed, this was a side of the Leaf's #1 power couple she doubt anyone else had ever seen. At least as far as she knew, Sakura stopped listening to the gossip about them a long time ago.

"Oh Naruto-kun, let's do whatever you want to do. Oh Naruto-kun, anything you suggest is fine. Oh Naruto-kun...bah!" Naruto did his best mimic of Hinata's voice.

Naruto slammed down a glass of Romulan ale and dropped the empty glass on the floor. "Ugh! Damn that shit's strong!" Naruto slurred as he wobbled over to the couch.

"4 months ago, I pushed to do something she wanted to do and she got mad at me, causing a big argument over nothing... HIC" Naruto said as he flopped down on the couch. "I'm surprised I stayed with her as long as I did. I said I was tired of always pulling her along with whatever I wanted to do and said I didn't want a life like that. So she left. I say good riddance." Naruto slurred as his body swayed on the couch.

"She always seemed weird to me anyway... HIC!" Naruto added. "We got back together after that though...She promised to be more assertive though, so that's nice...Hic..."

 _'Naruto...'_ Sakura thought to herself. She had no idea that this was going on. Knowing Hinata, she only said that just to get back with Naruto. She was never the assertive type and chances are things are already troubled.

"The problem is, I have yet to see a change in her... I think she'll always be like that...HIC!"

'Trouble in paradise, it seems. You sure you don't want him in you?' Inner said.

"OH YA KNOW WHAT!? She was more assertive at first...but cha know what the real kicker is? Turns out we don't have a damn thing in common... She doesn't like ramen, or pulling pranks... what the Hell is with bird watching anyway?"

Naruto's mind was now on his inner most thoughts. Between two glasses of aged wine and a glass of Romulan ale, he was gone and Sakura was getting a truthful insight to what has been really going on.

"...We broke up agaiiin... Thiiis time for gooood...HIC!" Naruto slurred. "III Don't think she ever really loved me..."

Sakura's mouth dropped to the floor. This was the last thing she expected to hear. Whether it was true or it was the alcohol talking, she didn't know. Either way, she was seeing Naruto in a light she has never seen him in.

"Personalllly... I think you should dump Sasuke... That Teme is making you miserable so just drop him like a hot potato... Focus on what you want... HIC!"

"That's... What Dr Crusher told me." Sakura said as she slammed down her third glass of wine and poured herself a glass of Romulan ale.

"Aaand... Shees right..." Naruto slurred as he pointed his finger at Sakura. "You... Yooouuu better listen to her."

"You are absolutely cocked." Sakura snickered.

"And yoooooooouuuuuuuu look sexy as fuck..." He slurred with a grin.

"Ahah... I don't think so, Baka." Sakura said sternly. "Not on your life."

Naruto looked down rejected. "Typical..."

Sakura looked at Naruto quizzically as she took a gulp of her ale. "What do you mean by that?"

"You're a really big bitch, sometimes, you know that?" Naruto said suddenly, shocking Sakura.

"I have loved you for sooooooo long. And I've done sooooooo much for you... And you never even look my way, but you always look at the freaking Teme, and I'm still dumb enough to just settle for your friendship..."

Sakura looked at Naruto with hurt in her eyes. She was sure he was saying that because of being drunk, but as she thought about it, he was right. He had done so much for her and never asked anything of her except mutual feelings. Something she could have returned, but didn't. Sakura sat in the table chair as shock turned to sadness. Normally she would have deck Naruto for saying something like that, if it wasn't for the fact that it was true.

"I think that's just the alcohol talking, Naruto." Sakura said quietly.

"No its not...I'm sober...I'm always sober... always make sure of that, healing my HIC alcohol like poison or somethin..." Naruto swayed in his seat back and forth.

"Mr. Fluffles?" Sakura said in confusion. "You are drunk, Naruto." Sakura chuckled. But her smile quickly went away. "But... You're right... I have been too much of a bitch towards you, taking your kindness for granted." Sakura just looked away from Naruto. "And what have I done to deserve it? nothing compared to what you've done for me."

Sakura slammed down the rest of her ale and poured herself another glass and downed that too. Already she was starting to feel the affects of this new alcohol.

"Yer damn...BLUGH!" Naruto puked all over the counter top. He then righted himself and stared at it for a second.

"That should be inside of me..." He pointed out. "Kurama-adama, what're ya doin' in there ya foxy beast?!" Naruto shouted as he pounded on his own stomach where his seal was located. But Kurama was keeping quiet.

Sakura didn't pay any attention as she slammed down yet another glass of Romulan ale. She had no idea what the alcohol content was, but she was getting less and less sober with every drop. She was more focused on reflecting on Naruto's deeds for her.

Naruto would always do anything she wanted of him at the drop of a hat and how did she thank him? By running off with a man that could give two shits less about her other than rebuilding a long since dead clan.

"Naruto..." Sakura said, her voice starting to slur. "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am... I never even realized it until now and it hurts to know that I've taken your kindness for granted as much as I have." Sakura said sadly.

Even in his inebriated state, Naruto could still recognize that he had hurt Sakura and his old instincts kicked in.

"No, no, Sakura don't be sad. I didn't mean what I said... I was out of line. I can't expect you to return your feelings to me if you don't have them. The last thing I want to do is force you into anything. That's not...it would be you then..."

"But its true!" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto, tears running down her face. "I have taken advantage of you since the beginning and never gave it a second thought! You have been in love with me for as long as I can remember and How did I return your love? By running off with that bastard that doesn't give two shits about me... At first I thought breaking up with him just because I was going to be gone so long was selfish on my part. But considering our relationship up till now, I'm glad I did."

"Y-you did? You broke up with Sasu-kay?" Naruto slurred in disbelief. It didn't make any sense. Sakura loved Sasuke, she always did.

"Yes I did! I don't know what I ever saw in that man.. No, scratch that. He isn't a man! He's a fucking JOKE! Makes me do everything and doesn't even give me the attention I deserve and then treats me like i'm just some piece of ass by trying to get me knocked up to revive his clan. Well, little did that asshole know that I had been using a contraceptive jutsu this whole time. Like Hell i'm going to mother a child who's father is never around..." Sakura slurred angrily.

"Fuck yeah! And there ain't no way I'm gonna stick around with some ditz that can't even think for herself. To Hell with her bouncy tits! I wanna real woman to fuckin' challenge me!"

"And I want someone who's gonna treat me right!" Sakura slurred as she took a large gulp from the bottle of Romulan ale. "You've always been there for me and that teme never has. So fuck him!"

"Yeah, fuck him! And fuck Hinata too! We don't need'em!"

"Damn straight! We... we've got each other and that's what really matters... Hic!"

"Damn straight, we're the fuckin' Tenchi duo of the ANBU! Feared by bandits and Tora the fucking cat alike!"

"We're...We're the real number one power couple! Hinata is too timid to be... to be... what the hell was I saying? Fuck it..." Sakura slurred as she took another gulp. "Y-you know... I haven't gotten any sex in almost 5 months... That's how much Sasuke cares..."

"Ha! I got some from Hinata like...6 months ago. She's so damn timid I gotta beg and plead then go slow in the missionary just to keep her from freaking out. It's the one damn way she puts her foot down. BUT OF COURSE SHE'LL STILL HAVE ME DO ALL THE WORK!"

"Then get your ass over here... I'll show y-you hooow it's done.." Sakura slurred as she tried to remove her robe but was too drunk to get the belt untied.

Frustrated, Sakura just ripped her clothes in two with her monster strength. "Come and get it, Ten!" She said in her most sultry voice possible.

Naruto wasted no time in getting an eye full of Sakura's girls. They had filled out over the years. Not quite at Hinata's level, but more like Ino's, a nice healthy moderate size, just how Naruto liked them.

"Oh I'll be coming, Chi." He replied using Sakura's ANBU codename.

"You fucking better!" Sakura said as she spread her legs wide open for Naruto to enter into. Naruto swayed and stumbled his way over but couldn't stay standing. He fell flat on the floor and looked up.

Right in front of his was Sakura's dripping folds, her most private area, something no other man had gazed upon. Well scratch that, Naruto would be the second, but he figured he would be the first to appreciate it.

He could see everything, all her curves, her pale skin untouched by the sun, it was all for him...

"I fell down." Naruto laughed.

"Yes you did... Just slide those pants off..." Sakura slurred.

"Not yet." Naruto said simply.

At first Sakura didn't know what was happening, was he rejecting her? But then she felt something indescribable happen in between her legs.

While Sakura wasn't looking, Naruto had dived into her folds and started lapping up her juices like a thirsty hound. The results were...breathtaking.

"Mmmmmhmmm Narutoooo... Oh God..." She moaned, clutching whatever she could to hold herself steady.

"Naruto... What are you doing?" She gasped.

"Foreplay..." He said lifting his head up from her musty thighs. "Don't tell me Sasuke never did this with you?"

"What (gah) do you think? He never even made me c-(god yes, right there)-cum..."

Naruto laughed into Sakura's area, his voice sending vibrations through Sakura's overly sensitive pussy, which just felt so delicious.

"You poor girl. That bastard really didn't know what he had." Naruto slipped a hand underneath Sakura's behind to massage her ass, inching closer and closer to her brown star. "And now that he's lost you, I'm never giving you back." His voice sent shivers down Sakura's spine.

"Oh you like that do you?" He chuckled. "You're mine now, Sakura-chan. Every inch of you. Every little squeak you make might here and now is mine alone to listen to. The sight of you like this...all sweaty and shaking, that's for my eyes only now. Your sound, your sight, you smell, and your taste. No other man will ever know it... You are mine."

"I-I just... MMMMmmm! Hope I remember this in the morning!" Sakura moaned.

 _'Oh, don't you fret your pink little head. You'll remember.'_ Inner thought to herself.

At that moment a finger slipped in and Sakura couldn't concentrate enough to form a response.

Naruto could sense that his love was growing impatient so he increased his tempo; faster and faster until Sakura could not even speak, only groan under the building pressure inside of her.

"Hn! Hmmm! I-I'm gonna... OH GOD NARUTO!" Sakura screamed as she exploded over Naruto's face. Sakura convulsed uncontrollably as she continued to gush on the blond. she fell over face first and started panting heavily.

"H-holy...shit... Wow..." Sakura gasped out as Naruto cleaned his face like a cat.

"Salty, but delicious." Naruto commented.

After that, Sakura started to sober up and wasn't as fuzzy headed as she was before. She was now aware of what was taking place but she didn't care. This was turning out to be the best damn sex of her life and she wasn't about to give it up for anyone or anything. Morals be damned.

Sakura looked down to see the wet face and hair of Naruto who still had his face buried in her pink muff. Realizing that he was covered in her juices, she blushed.

"That... never happened... before." Sakura gasped out.

"Really? It happens to me all the time..." Naruto gasped.

"Hinata is a squirter?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"What? No she's not a squirrel." Naruto said, his head was still spinning.

Sakura deadpanned. "Never mind." Sakura said as she moved to remove Naruto's pants. "Now, lets see what you're so...HOLY SHIT!" Sakura exclaimed as Naruto's 7 inch member flopped out.

 _'Hinata wasn't happy with this?! The fuck is wrong with that girl?!'_ Inner exclaimed.

 _'Agreed.'_ Sakura said in shock. _'Sasuke's got nothing on this...'_ Sakura added.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, partially scared.

"Oh hell no. Absolutely nothing is wrong with this guy. You've got Sasuke beat big time!" Sakura said as she hungrily eyed Naruto's member.

Naruto's cheeks became flushed red. He had never really consider how much he stacked up compared to the other guys.

It's was...flattering.

"Thank you."

"Heh. Don't thank me yet. Wait until after I'm done." Sakura teased as she plopped her mouth right over his member.

"Oh Sweet Sage, Sakura-chan..." Naruto groaned.

Sakura giggled. 'Not even Sasuke got this excited.' Sakura thought as she bobbed her head up and down, eliciting more moans of pleasure from Naruto. Sakura stopped for a brief moment and let Naruto's cock fall from her mouth with an audible pop.

"Did Hinata ever do this for you..?" Sakura asked in a sultry tone as she rubbed her finger on the tip of his penis.

"What do you think?" He replied, reusing her words with a smirk.

Sakura just giggled. "I thought so." She said as she plopped her mouth back down, swirling her tongue around Naruto's throbbing shaft.

Naruto gripped the carpet like a life line, the way she was playing with his balls only heightened his sense of euphoria. He was puddy in her hands right now and he loved it.

 _'Thank you Ino.'_ Sakura thought to herself. She had always cursed Ino out for teaching her this, but now she couldn't thank her enough.

Sakura then felt Naruto tensing up and his cock pulsating. She almost immediately knew what this meant. Normally she'd pull it out of her mouth, but still being slightly inebriated, she decided against it as she prepared for Naruto's release.

"Sakura-chan... I think...I'm going to..."

 _'Here it comes.'_ Inner sang as Sakura braced for impact. Naruto was about to fire his photon torpedo.

"Sakura-CHAAAAAAN!" Naruto shouted. Releasing his essence directly into Sakura's upper port bay.

 _'Direct hit!'_ Inner Sakura cheered.

Sakura gulped down every drop until Naruto stopped shooting. She pulled away and looked up at Naruto with a smile on her face and a little cum falling off her lip.

"Slimy, yet satisfying." Sakura teased.

Sakura licked the remaining bit off of her lip and looked down to see that Naruto was ready to go again.

"I didn't expect you to give me so much. You're too generous..." Sakura said.

Never. In Naruto's entire life, had Sakura look as sexy as she did right now. Crouching right next to his crotch. She looked like she commanded the world.

Naruto held out his right hand to cup Sakura's cheek and she leaned into it. Closing her eyes, she felt at peace.

He led her up to a standing position by her jawline until she was looking up at him from her tiptoes. They were both plenty tipsy, but had never felt more certain and confident in their actions then they had before in their lives. Everything they did now, they did with their best friend.

 _'I don't know why, but I feel like this is something I've wanted for a long time. Maybe my longing for Sasuke was actually meant for Naruto? Or, maybe its just the alcohol affecting me...'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Who the flippity fuck cares?!'_ Inner cried, she had been doing somersaults inside of Sakura's head the entire time.

 _'I want to know if this is real, or if its just a fling. I want it to be real, but why him all of a sudden?'_

Inner didn't respond and Sakura's raging hormones were in overdrive at the moment, enough to sway her line of thinking back to present matters.

Without thinking, Naruto brought Sakura in close for a kiss. Just a quick one on the lips. She tasted salty and sweet with just a hint of bitterness. He loved it, but restrained himself by pulling back. If Sakura still wanted him, she would have to initiate it.

Sakura looked at Naruto with a mix of shock, longing and surprise.

"Why did you stop...?" Sakura asked with a slight pout.

"I just wanted to make sure this is what you want. We can stop right now and never speak of this again. I'd rather have your friendship than nothing at all, Sakura-chan." Naruto said softly, almost husky like, but Sakura knew there was doubts behind his words.

This whole time, Sakura thought Naruto was still hammered, but it seems as though he had sobered up enough to realize his actions and think before going any further. Sakura had since sobered enough to be aware of what was going on but didn't want to stop. they have gone this far, there isn't being just friends after all of this.

"Naruto. We've gone this far, why stop here? Especially since this is the greatest I have ever felt. I should have paid attention to your feelings for me a long time ago..." Sakura said softly.

"And maybe I should have been more assertive and less annoying." He replied.

 _'Yup, he sobered up.'_ Sakura thought.

"Naruto, that is what made you who you are today and I wouldn't have you any other way. You know that... What I didn't expect was to be having sex on our first date." Sakura said with a giggle.

"Yeah, I can't say I ever pictured our first time would be on a spaceship either."

"Well, when we get back, we can say we've done something no one else has ever done; had sex in the middle of outer space lightyears away from home."

"Not that we can ever tell our friends about it."

"Maybe not at present, but someday. Now are we gonna finish what we started? I'm starting to dry up." Sakura said in a sultry tone.

"Oh yes we are. No lover of mine is gonna leave the bed unsatisfied." Naruto growled, enlisting a purr from Sakura.

"Take me, Fox boy... Like you've always wanted..."

Without having to be told again, Naruto scooped Sakura up bridal style and carried her to her bedroom. He then playfully dropped her on the bed, to which she laughed and squirmed, getting ready to accept Naruto's gift. But, there was a crucial thing she was forgetting that her inebriated state was keeping her from realizing.

But Inner knew what it was and even though she was very eager for all of this to happen, some things need to be said.

 _'You're forgetting something...'_ Inner said.

 _'Can it wait? I'm kinda busy here.'_ Sakura said in an annoyed tone.

 _'Well, if you what a bun baking in your oven then by all means, it can-'_

"SHIT!" Sakura cursed loudly. She could hardly believe she forgot about that. "Hold on a minute, I forgot something very important." Sakura said as she pushed Naruto back.

"What the Hell Sakura? I thought you said you wanted this?" Naruto cried.

"Just hold on a second." Sakura formed a few hand signs and placed her blue glowing hand on her lower abdomen. A symbol appeared briefly and then vanished as her jutsu was completed. "Contraception jutsu. I want this, but I don't wanna be having a kid anytime soon." Sakura pointed out.

"Oh yeah, good catch. Thank God you're the brains of our little duo." Naruto said sheepishly. Although secretly he would live nothing more than to father a child with Sakura, if there was anything his relationship with Hinata had taught him it was to not rush these things.

"Now... Get over here..." Sakura hungrily growled.

"Yes, my Vixen..." Naruto replied and Sakura could swear she saw his eyes flash red with lust.

Naruto crawled onto the bed and got in between Sakura's legs, which she spread as wide as she could. Naruto could see a great deal of fluids flowing from between her folds as they ran down to her anus. Naruto couldn't wait any longer. He positioned himself and held his member to Sakura's opening, his tip rubbing her vaginal lips eagerly.

"mmmm... you tease..." Sakura moaned.

"Oh you know it. You're pretty eager, aren't you Sakura-chan?" He whispered.

"Yes.. Now stick me before I lose my miiiiiIIIND! OH GOD!" Sakura hollered as Naruto entered her hard before she finished her sentence.

"You were saying?" He smirked.

"Mmmmmhmmm, fuck you..." She smirked back, relishing the feeling of having a man inside her after so damn long.

"That's the idea, my little Vixen."

Naruto began thrusting in an out as Sakura moaned uncontrollably. With each movement Naruto made, her level of pleasure soared to heights she never imagined. She was on cloud 9 and the feeling was intoxicating, more than the alcohol. She was now drunk on sheer pleasure and didn't ever want it to end.

"Oh my god... Mmmmmmm... I've... Never felt... This good in my life... Oh god, yes right there..." Sakura moaned and gasped.

"Gasp, yeah...huff huff...same here. Your pussy, Sakura. Is so. Damn. Tight!"

"Glad... Oh god... Glad someone thinks so... Sasuke said I was too loose... But he's really just a...Oh god yes... a pencil dick compared to you..."

"Haha, and Hinata... She was such a stick in the mud. I could only make love to her. But with you..." Naruto said, he spun Sakura around onto her belly with his dick still balls deep inside of her. Now he was thrusting at her from behind with two handfuls of that delicious ass of hers he would always see strutting around in all those spandex shorts of hers. "I get to fuck you."

"Damn straight you do... Now don't hold back... I'm nearly there... Oh god..."

"So am I... Fuck me..." He hissed. His hands were kneading Sakura's ass cheeks like they were made of dough; squeezing them, slapping them together, he even took his dick out of her pussy just to run it up the crack of her ass. Before Sakura could finish whining for him to put it back in he did so with renewed speed, arcing Sakura's sense of pleasure to new heights.

Sakura then started feeling the same build up she had when Naruto was eating her out, only it was 3 times as intense. The buildup was increasing with each vigorous thrust made from the blond haired Fox and it was getting to the point where Sakura was reaching her limit, a limit she never knew she had. The big one was coming.

Naruto was gripping Sakura's hips for extra support. He could feel that he was reaching his limit. If it wasn't for Sakura's blow job earlier the thought of fucking Sakura alone would have sent him over the edge long ago. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he would not let it fizzle out. He and Sakura would remember this night.

Then with a final thrust, it came.

"NARUTOOOO!" Sakura screamed as she exploded around Naruto's member.

"AARGH! SAKURA-CHAAAAN!" Sakura's climax sent Naruto over the edge and he exploded deep in her cavity.

Sakura's vaginal liquids mixed with Naruto's sperm as the both of them convulsed and shuddered as their climax hit them like a bomb stronger than any in recorded history.

After a few moments of utter bliss, both lovers collapsed. Sakura lay on her belly as Naruto laid on her back as they gasped in exhaustion.

"That...was..." Sakura gasped put but couldn't find the words. It was perfect.

"Astronomically... Epic..." Naruto gasped.

"Is...that a...pun...because we're in space...?" Sakura replied.

"Maybe..."

Sakura turned around and playfully slapped Naruto on the chest before burying her face into his warm chest. Naruto in kind chuckled as he wrapped Sakura protectively in his arms. He kissed the top of her head, tasting her shampoo. _'Strawberries.'_ He thought dreamily.

Sakura meanwhile was listening to the steady rhythm of Naruto's heartbeat. The same heartbeat she had kept beating all those years ago on the battlefield. Now it was soothing her to sleep like the gentlest lullaby.

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered out sleepily.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered into Sakura's ear.

"Never, ever leave me..." Sakura said softly.

The whiskered blond smiled. He kissed her forehead square on her purple diamond seal.

"Never..."

"Promise me..." Sakura said as she opened her eyes and looked into Naruto's. Emerald green meeting cerulean blue.

"Promise of a Lifetime." He swore and Sakura smiled. All her doubts cast aside.

"Good." Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto pulling him closer to her. She was moments from drifting away to dreamland, when she muttered 3 words that Naruto had longed to hear from her again. "I love you..." Soon after that, she was snoring softly.

"I love you too." He whispered back. His mind filled with cherry blossoms and he too drifted off to sleep.

 _'And scene!'_ Inner Sakura and Kurama each said to themselves as the two new lovers slept peacefully.


	4. Chapter 4: Misunderstandings

The next morning was a late one for the Tenchi duo. It was past 0800 hours as Sakura stirred from her sleep. She was moving around, but something was off. She lazily felt around and noticed that she was completely nude. That was odd, she didn't remember deciding to go to bed naked, but when she felt a muscular arm around her waist, her eyes shot wide open and swiftly turned to see who was next to her. There, sleeping behind her, was the whiskered face of Naruto.

 _'Oh...My...God...'_ Sakura thought to herself. She was getting ready to punch him through the bulkhead and into space when the memories from the previous night flooded her vision. _'Oh... that's right.'_ Sakura thought dreamily as she remembered the most amazing sex she ever had and the last moment confession between the two of them.

 _'Yes, everything is fine. Put down the weapon, miss.'_ Inner taunted.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at herself. Here she was about to pound this poor man into gravy. A day ago she wouldn't have hesitated, but in light of recent events...

 _'I've gotta be more gentle around him from now on, don't I?'_ She asked her Inner self.

 _'Oh yes you do. We can't risk damaging THAT merchandise.'_ Inner smirked.

Sakura had a flashback to the previous evening. She could still feel the sensation of being so completely filled up even the morning after.

 _'No we cannot.'_

Sakura sat up, slowly and gently moving Naruto's arm from around her bare waist as she looked dreamily upon her new loves sleeping face.

Sakura leaned forward to kiss Naruto on his whiskered cheeks. He subconsciously smiled to the greeting but did not wake up.

 _'He looks so cute.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Yeah, like a sleeping tiger, ready to pounce, rah-ow!'_ Inner meowed.

Sakura inwardly giggled at that. She slowly got up, being careful not to disturb Naruto. She put on a short length robe, because why the hell not? She made her way out of her room and looked out the window briefly.

"It's still night?" Sakura said out loud to herself quietly. Then she remembered where she was. "Oh, Duh! Space... Computer, lights at 10% please. And keep quiet." Sakura whispered. The computer simply beeped in response and adjusted the lights accordingly.

Sakura walked over to the replicator and quietly gave the computer orders.

"Scrambled Katarian eggs with biscuits and sausage gravy and Melba toast. Make it a double." Sakura ordered. The replicator created two plates of the same breakfast as the smell permeated Sakura's nostrils. _'Damn that smells good.'_ Sakura thought as she walked over to place the plates on the coffee table when.

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Said slightly above a whisper as she laid her eyes upon Naruto's stomach contents from the previous night.

She then moved to place the plates on the dining table instead as she work on cleaning up Naruto's mess

She then noticed that the plates of food from the previous evening weren't put away either, nor were the plates from the breakfast before that either.

"Computer, doesn't this ship have some kind of automatic clean up thingy or robot or whatever?"

The computer beeped loudly to respond. "NEGATIVE."

"Shhhsshhh!" She hissed, not wanting to wake Naruto up. A part of her was trying to be considerate while another part wanted Naruto to be well rested for a possible round 2.

She heard Naruto snort for a moment. She waited a few minutes silently to see if he would come out, but then heard him snoring again.

"Whew... that was close..." Sakura whispered. "Computer, get me some rags and cleaning spray. And be quiet about it." Sakura whispered.

The replicator quietly hummed as it normally did and revealed a device that Sakura wasn't familiar with.

Sakura picked up the device and examined it. It showed some similarities to a hand phaser, but the beam end was wider.

"Computer, what is this? And respond quietly!" Sakura whispered.

"It is an auto cleanser as you requested. It projects a beam to clean up various messes." The computer said in a low volume.

Sakura aimed the device at the table and pressed a large yellow button on it. A wide blue beam shot forward and within a moment, erased the vomit from the table.

"Oh, this is awesome..." Sakura said quietly in awe.

She aimed the device at the plates still on the table and pressed the button. Within seconds the plates became spotless yet still stubbornly remained on the table.

"Well, can't hope for everything I guess..." Sakura sighed. "Computer, what do I do with the plates once I'm done with them?"

"Place the empty plates back in the food slot." The computer responded.

Sakura did just that. The replicator hummed to life and the dishes disappeared in a flash of light.

"Wow. I wish I knew that sooner..." She said to herself. She turned around and sat down at the dining table to sample the breakfast that Crusher recommended.

* * *

Back in Sakura's room, the 9 Tails Jinchuriki stirred awake from probably the best night of sleep he has had in months.

"Mmm... Man... It's been a while since I slept that good." Naruto mumbled as he moved around

He stretched his arms and cracked his back. Maybe he and Sakura-chan could check out whatever it was the ship's holodecks were- Wait, something wasn't right...

Naruto looked around and noticed something was off, but the lights were too dim to make out every detail.

"Computer, increase lighting by 30%" Naruto ordered. The lights grew brighter and then Naruto realized something that sent chills down his spine. "Oh... Shit..."

 _'I'm in Sakura's room. Oh damn I must have been plastered last night. I hope I didn't piss her off too bad.'_ He thought.

 _ **'Don't overreact Kit. Things are not always as they seem.'**_ Kurama simply said as he nodded off back to sleep.

Naruto calmed down a bit. Surely he just had too much to drink and Sakura had dropped him off in bed to sleep it off...

In her room...

No, he was overthinking it. Maybe she got plastered too and took his bed so he had no choice but to take her bed. Yeah, that was it.

Naruto stood up to take a shower when he made another shocking discovery.

 _'I'm naked! Oh jeez-NO! Calm down, calm down...'_ Naruto thought frantically. He scanned the ground for some pants and then he saw a pile of torn clothes...with blue fabric.

 _'Oh no, oh no!'_

Hastily he wrapped himself in the sheets and made his way to the door leading to the living room, dreading what he might find on the other side.

He smelled something amazing before he even opened the door. Something good was cooking. Eggs, toast, and sasuage gravy. His mouth watered a little as he opened the door to see none other than Sakura in the skimpiest bathrobe he had ever seen.

 _'Oh shit... we didn't...'_ He dreaded thinking.

"Oh hey you, good morning." Sakura brightly chirped. Naruto had never been so horrified to see her smile like that.

 _'Oh shit, we did... Oh no...'_ Naruto thought in fear.

Sensing the blond's discomfort, Sakura scooched closer to him in her chair.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" She said in her most gentle voice.

"I... I-I... I've gotta go!" He shouted, taking his sheet and one of the gravy drizzled biscuits and ran into the room before slamming the door.

"Naruto! Wait!" Sakura shouted after him as she approached his door. "Naruto, please open up. It's not what you think."

Naruto didn't respond as he had sat himself in the farthest corner away from the door and curled himself up into a ball in horror at what he had done.

 _'He doesn't remember... damn it...'_ Sakura thought. "Naruto... We did have a moment of intense intimacy last night, that much is true. You probably don't remember, but you told me last night that you broke up with Hinata. Everything is okay! Seriously! I'm not mad and there is nothing wrong with that happened last night."

The door furiously slid open to reveal an irate Naruto.

"Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong?!"

"No there isn't, Naruto. Honestly!" Sakura pleaded.

"Yes there is Sakura! Don't even lie to me and say you don't know what I mean!" He raised his voice, he had never raised his voice like that to Sakura. Not for as long as she could remember.

"I'm not lying! I know what you must think but you're wrong! Dead wrong, Naruto Uzumaki!"

"BULLSHIT!" He shouted. Silencing Sakura completely. He was honestly scaring her. The two of them just stood together in silence, Naruto standing over top of Sakura. Sakura looked up, fearful of his gaze bit wanting to catch his eye. While Naruto was deliberately trying to avoid looking at her.

"How could you...?" He asked.

"How could I what?" She replied with fear in her voice.

"How could you cheat on Sasuke!?"

"How can I cheat on someone I'm no longer in a relationship with? I broke up with him the day we left on this ship. I told you this last night, but its apparent that you don't remember..." Sakura said softly.

"Don't lie to me Sakura! I told you many years ago that I hate people who lie to themselves."

"I'M NOT LYING YOU IDIOT!" Sakura shouted, now backing Naruto up. "I may have lied back then so you could stop chasing Sasuke, but I'm not this time! Ever since Sasuke and I got together there hasn't been a moment where I WISHED you didn't keep your promise!" Sakura spat furiously. "Remember a few days ago when I said he has been neglecting our relationship and making me miserable?! If it wasn't for this mission, I would have broken up with him in time! SO PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND BELIEVE THE TRUTH WHEN SOMEONE IS TELLING IT TO YOU!"

Once again, the two of them came to an abrupt pause. Neither one of them saying a word. Until Naruto took another stand forward.

"You expect me to believe that you actually broke up with Sasuke? The love of your life? That's bullshit Sakura. It's bad enough that you cheated on Sasuke after all the crap he's been through, but to drag me along with you? Make me betray my best friend like that?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" He spat. Sakura couldn't believe it; the lengths he was willing to go through before he would believe that Sakura could ever fall out of love with Sasuke.

"You forget, Sakura. Kurama filters any poisons that enter my system, that includes alcohol. You did a medical paper on it, remember? So everything I remember last night actually happened and I don't ever remember you telling me you broke up with Sasuke!"

"Well, somewhere along the line, he wasn't doing his job and you were more shitfaced than I was! UGH!" Sakura huffed as she turned and walked away from Naruto, slamming her rear down on the couch with her face in her hands. "Why do you always have to be so damn stubborn..."

Naruto didn't respond and instead retreated to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him.

"I was never lying to you and I'm not now." Sakura said as she lifted her head up. "What will it take for you to believe that I'm telling you the truth?!"

Naruto exited his room after a few moments in some loose workout clothes.

"I'm off to whatever passes for a gym around here."

"Don't ignore me!" Sakura shouted as she blocked the pathway from the front door with her still immodestly dressed self.

"Oh I don't know Sakura, get proof maybe?!" Naruto mockingly replied before elbowing her aside. He need time to think and he knew the best way to do that was to blow off steam.

Naruto stormed out of their quarters, almost knocking over a crewman as he made his way to the turbo lift.

"God Dammit!" Sakura cried as she flopped back down on the couch, not knowing that Naruto heard her cry of sadness.

 _'How the hell am I supposed to prove to that idiot that I'm telling the truth?'_ Sakura thought to herself.

 _'This really is a big problem.'_ Inner thought back.

 _'Yea, no shit. How the hell do I solve it?'_

 _'I don't know. I usually just suggest something shocking. Why don't you try flashing the girls at him? That might get him horny and then the problem will sort itself out.'_

 _'You apparently didn't see the same eyes as I did. they were full of rage and betrayal. My tits wouldn't do anything for him when he's like that.'_

 _'Your butt then? It is our greatest asset.'_

 _'That is his favorite part of my body, but I doubt that would even work. I think I need to call Counselor Troi.'_

 _'I doubt a threesome will solve this situation. And I never thought I'd say that.'_

 _'Not what I was suggesting...'_ Sakura growled.

 _'Well now that I mention it...'_ Inner leered.

 _'NO!'_ Sakura hissed.

 _'Alright, alright, I'm just messing with you. Seriously though, what do we do? I will not have us lose that good lovin'.'_

Sakura grabbed the combadge that was on the table next to her and activated it.

"Ensign Haruno to Counselor Troi..." Sakura said, a fait whimper was present at the end of her sentence.

"Troi here." The counselor answered.

"I... Need you in my quarters... The sooner the better... Please..." Sakura sobbed.

"Is everything alright?" Troi asked with concern.

"No... Please get here soon..."

"I'm on my way. Troi out." Troi said as she cut the transmission.

Sakura set her combadge down on the table and cried in her hands. It wasn't long before she heard the doorbell beep melodically.

"Enter..." Sakura chocked out. The door slid open and Counselor Troi walked in to see a sobbing Sakura.

"Sakura? What's wrong?"

"(sniff) Its Naruto..." She sobbed, her knees tucked up to her face to let her better hug herself on the couch.

"What about him?" Troi asked softly as she sat down next to Sakura.

"He... H-he thinks I'm a liar..." She choked out, the rush of all these intense emotions began pouring out. She was almost hyperventilating.

Troi pulled Sakura into a warm embrace as was part of her job for emotionally distraught women. She could feel very intense emotions radiating off of Sakura that was almost overwhelming to the empath.

"Why does he think you're a liar? Did something happen last night?" Troi asked softly as she rocked Sakura to help sooth her.

"H-he thinks I cheated on Sasuke... My Ex-boyfriend... With him..." She sniffed.

"I see. And he doesn't believe you are telling the truth when you are, correct?"

"Yes! I told him that I broke up with Sasuke before we left our home planet. I told him last night before we...well..."

Troi could sense where this was going.

"So, he thinks that the intercourse you two made was not only a mistake, but he feels like you used him to commit an act of infidelity. Was he willing to listen to reason?"

At this Sakura's sadness turned to rage. "No, he's a stubborn idiot who won't listen to a thing I say!"

"Has he always been like this? Or are his emotions overwhelming his judgement?"

"(sniff) I don't know..."

Troi reached out with her empathic abilities to sense Naruto's current emotions. She was suddenly struck with a very intense wave of rage, distrust and betrayal as well as a bit of hatred.

"Oh my..." Troi gasped.

"What?" Sakura asked, wiping the snot from her nose.

"I just sensed Naruto's emotions. I was overwhelmed with an intense amount of negative emotions from him. I think it is possible his emotions are clouding his judgement."

"Chhhh, what else is new? He's always been an irrational idiot." Sakura spat.

"I can also sense... a strong, malevolent presence within him... It feels demonic."

Sakura looked like her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets at Troi's dangerously accurate choice of words.

"I ah, don't know what that could be about. Maybe its Naruto's anger mixed with his chakra creating that demonic presence you feel."

Troi eyed Sakura with a look saying, "I know you're lying."

Now Sakura was more fearful than ever. "Please don't make me say anything. Please."

"I'm not here to question what Naruto is. I'm here to resolve a problem the two of you have. However, I will need to bring this subject up again." Troi stated.

"I just keep screwing everything up with him don't I?" Sakura said as she eyed the carpet where some of the gravy from breakfast had spilled onto the carpet when Naruto stormed off.

"All I would need to know about that is if it poses a threat to the safety of the ship. I will say nothing more about it if you are not lying." Troi pointed out.

"No. Absolutely not. Naruto is no threat to this ship nor to any of its occupants. Of that you can be certain of." Sakura said with conviction.

Sensing Sakura's emotions as she spoke, Troi knew that Sakura was telling the truth and nodded. "You're telling the truth. You were also telling the truth about your current relationship status. Now what needs to be done is to convince Naruto of that."

"But how? He won't listen to a word I say!"

Troi stood up and walked over to the computer terminal located on a nearby desk. "Computer, access security footage for the last 24 hours. Authorization Troi Beta 94." Troi ordered.

"ACCESS GRANTED" the computer sounded.

"Wait a minute, we were recorded?!" Sakura exclaimed, a mixture of rage and embarrassment.

"It is alright, Sakura. No one monitors these feeds. The computer records them and only senior officers like myself and a high ranking Security officer can access them." Troi assured.

"So you could see what me and Naruto did last night at your leisure? That doesn't make me feel any better." Sakura said as she crossed her arms in a subconscious method to try to hide her breasts. Only to remember that she was still wearing that skimpy bathrobe.

"No. This footage can only be accessed in the room it was recorded in, unless overridden by the Captain." Troi clarified.

"Ok then...that slightly makes me feel better. Where exactly are these cameras?"

"The feeds are located in the black strips you see above you. You have probably seen them flash red during a red alert." Troi explained. "Anyway, you can look through this footage and use it as the proof Naruto wants when he returns. I hope this helps you both out."

"Thanks..." Sakura said as she tried to navigate the confusing menu system which was as foreign to her as it would be to an Earthling for 500 years in the past.

"Um...how do you work this thing?"

"Computer, play footage from current time index." Troi ordered and the footage started playing. There was no one in the room at the time as both Naruto and Sakura were on duty.

"What time did you return to your quarters?" Troi asked.

"Um... About 1600 hours I think." Sakura guessed.

"Computer. Play footage from 1600 hours yesterday evening." Troi commanded. The video fast forwarded to when Sakura walked into the living area of the shared crew quarters.

Sakura watched herself roam about her quarters, distraught over sharing her trying and emotional time with Sasuke to Dr. Crusher.

"Computer, transfer controls of this footage to Ensign Sakura Haruno." Troi ordered.

"AFFIRMATIVE." The computer sounded.

"I have other appointments I have to make. If this doesn't work, call me and we'll work something else out." Troi said and Sakura smiled.

"Thank you Counselor." Sakura said as Troi made her way out.

* * *

As this was happening, Naruto was on one of the holodecks, using one of Worf's training programs on a level of difficulty that even Worf Himself hasn't used. Naruto was in the middle of a small pit as alien warrior after alien warrior until he was surrounded by 20 men. A mixture of Klingons, Miraks, Lyrans and Naussicans had weapons drawn with savage looks on their faces of varying shapes.

Naruto however was in the kind of pissed off mood where he could focus on nothing but kicking all their virtual asses. Disregarding his shadow clones or even his trusty kunai, Naruto felt the need to do this by hand.

A Klingon was the first to charge at him with some kind of oddly shaped two handed blade, which Naruto was quick to dodge underneath and land a series of quick jabs into the alien's joints, staggering him from attempting anymore quick moves. It was a far cry from his Ex's style of fighting, but it got the job done with under skilled opponents.

Naruto finished the job with a backwards kick to the Klingon's lower back, knocking it down to its knees and allowing Naruto to focus on the next threat.

Down in Naruto's subconscious, Kurama stirred awake.

 _ **'Someone is in a bad mood. What's got your headband in a knot?'**_ Kurama asked.

Naruto ignored him and began his assault on the next alien.

Next was a Lyran that looked like an orange cat had decided to grow to the height of a man and walk like one too. It attacked Naruto with a flurry of claw swipes, every single one Naruto carefully blocked, countered, or dodged out of the way. Before the cat alien could try out a new strategy, Naruto stepped into his attacks where his claws were over extended and sent his own flurry of jabs into the alien's stomach and then finished it off with a sickening uppercut to its furry chin.

A Mirak and Klingon duo tried double team Naruto, but had foolishly stepped into his field of reach while Naruto was still benefiting for the momentum of his last scuffle. He stepped into the Klingon's path and sent blow after blow of bone crunching punches at the Klingon's various weak points. Sakura wasn't the only one who could channel chakra into her limbs enhancing her strength. Before the Klingon could even fall flat on its back, Naruto had flipped the lion like Mirak over using a kind of ninja jujitsu. He then finished with a devastating blow to the head right into the hard ground. Knocking the alien out instantly.

At that point the first Klingon tried his luck again but was met with a backwards leg sweep that knocked it off its feet and was met with the same fate as the Mirak.

 _ **'Kit, you're starting to worry me.'**_ Kurama said.

At that point the remaining Alien, a Nausicaan, looked like it had taken a step backwards, as if computer program could feel fear. Naruto didn't give it a chance as he sprinted towards the startled hologram with a newly formed Rasengan at the ready. It tried to throw a punch at the blond, but given his extremely higher level of training, the ninja caught it and twisted the alien's arm back. The alien program cried out in pain as if to convey begging for mercy but Naruto was having none of it. He drove the spiraling ball of chakra into the alien's back, dead center to were the spine would be and held on to its arm as the power of the chakra ball exploded throughout the alien hologram's chest cavity. Leaving a virtual mess all over the Klingon that was still rolling on the ground in pain.

"Wave 18 completed. Simulation terminated." the computer sounded. Worf had only programmed this simulation to go up to 18 levels and Naruto surpassed them all with ease.

"Computer, restart wave 18 with twice the number of enemy units." Naruto said impatiently.

"Unable to comply. That request would overload the holo emitters." The computer denied.

 _ **'And here I'd thought you'd have a hangover from last night.'**_ Kurama said, hoping that would gain Naruto's attention.

"Guess I'm just lucky, no thanks to you." Naruto said aloud. "Computer, how many enemy units can the halo emitter generate without overloading?"

"30." The computer responded. Then what Kurama said finally registered in Naruto's mind.

"Wait a minute... I thought I couldn't get drunk because of you!" Naruto hollered.

 _ **'Oops. Guess that's what happens when I sleep.'**_ Kurama said sarcastically.

"You damn Fox, I slept with Sakura-chan because of you! Do you know what this means?!"

 _ **'That you're overreacting like usual. Didn't I say not everything is as it seems?'**_

"Yeah and you were wrong as usual! I slept with Sakura, whose dating Sasuke, my best friend. What kind of asshole does that?!"

 _ **'You do know she broke up with him the day we left, right? She explained that to your dunk ass last night. I heard that much at least. it's not my fault you're too stupid to remember shit.'**_ Kurama said plainly.

"Oh don't you start too."

 _ **'Hey, I was the sober one while you two drunk fucked each other. I think after being in your body for 20 years I can remember shit a lot better than you can. Don't you remember 3 months ago, you saw her crying at that park bench and she said it was because she missed that mopey bastard? I felt a shift in her chakra, she was lying. She wasn't lonely, she was miserable. Even I could see that.'**_

Naruto shook his head, trying to drown out Kurama's voice in his head.

"Computer, render 30 level 18 enemies, fully armed." Naruto said. He had to take his mind off what Kurama was saying. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

 _ **'It is. Or do I need to revive your memories for you? I'm more than certain she is trying to find a way to prove to you that she isn't lying. And she isn't. Her chakra didn't shift and she was pouring her heart out to you. But what did you do? You did the one thing you said you would never do; you hurt her.'**_

Naruto grabbed his head and shook violently.

"NO! You're wrong! There is no way that's true!" Naruto screamed. "It's not true, dammit! You're lying to me! You have to be!"

 _ **'Sage of Six Paths, Kit, pull yourself together! Why would I lie to you? Huh? This isn't like your childhood when I was trying to trick you into releasing the seal and freeing me. We're partners now, or did I misunderstand you?'**_ Kurama lectured, to which Naruto felt guilty.

 _ **'So when I tell you that you are making a mistake it is because you are about to cost the both of us very dearly. I will not stand idly by while you ruin the most interesting relationship you've ever had with a potential mate. Granted she's not as fit for breeding as the last one, but at least this one has some spunk to her.'**_

Naruto was speechless. How could he argue with that? What was there to argue about after that? But he still couldn't accept it as the truth. He needed to have Sakura look him in the eye and tell him that it was true. It was the only way this was ever going to make him believe. Not wasting a moment, he dashed out of the holodeck and made his way back to their quarters.

* * *

A few hours had gone by and Sakura had found what she was looking for; the section of the video that would prove her validity to Naruto undeniably.

"I just hope he believes this. This is about as hard of evidence as he's ever gonna get." Sakura said to herself.

Because life is just funny like that, at that exact moment the front door to Sakura's quarters opened to none other than the exact blond she wanted to see.

Standing there, half in and half out of the door frame, Sakura couldn't help but notice how attractive Naruto looked. All sweaty, out of breath, and looking completely serious. It was the rare air of maturity that surrounded him that made it all the more special when Sakura finally saw it. He looked so commanding just standing there, like he just got back from a harrowing battle and had returned to his lover's bedside.

Then Sakura remembered that she had a fight with this jerk for always jumping to conclusions and snapped out of her daydream.

Without missing a beat, Naruto grabbed Sakura by her shoulders and looked her directly in her eyes.

"Tell me the truth, Sakura! Did you really break up with Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded. He continued to look her in the eyes to see if she was lying. This was the moment of truth.

"I told you before that I broke up with him before we left. What part of that just isn't sinking in?!" Sakura spat.

Naruto's facial features softened. He saw no lies in Sakura's eyes and he immediately released her. He slowly walked over to the couch and sat down, completely stunned beyond belief.

"I'm sorry. It's just... You and Me and Sasuke... Our history is so muddled and dramatic, I guess I was hoping it wasn't going to take another wild turn like it did. I mean I woke up and everything was fuzzy. I don't normally get hangovers; I usually remember everything that happens the night before. So when all I could remember was that I slept with you, and last I checked you were still with Sasuke... Sasuke is like a brother to me, you know that. I could never hurt him like that. And I especially would never want to risk screwing up your relationship with Sasuke. I always thought it was the one thing that would guarantee your happiness, Sakura-chan."

"Naruto... You've gotta stop this, this coddling of me. My happiness is not your responsibility..." She said softly. Naruto could only look down is resigned sadness. "At least it wasn't, it is now." She smirked.

"Sakura-chan?"

"What? Do you think I'm gonna just let you hit it and quit it? Nah uh, Mr. Stud. Your ass is mine now."

"But, Sakura-ch-"

"Naruto, I have spent the better part of my life thinking that love was just giving my everything to a single person. Well these last three years have taught me that all that devotion is pretty empty when the other guy isn't willing to give much of anything back. You on the other hand, have always been willing to give more than you take, do you get my meaning? I want to be with you Naruto. I want to see how far the two of us can go together. So if you'll have me..." Sakura said, summoning up all the courage she possessed. "I'd like to be your girlfriend."

Naruto shot up from the couch and made is way over to Sakura.

"Are you serious right now? You want to go out with me?" Naruto said in amazement.

The Pink Firecracker looked off to the side to avoid meeting his gaze out of embarrassment. "Of course I do, Baka. You've always been sweet on me. You're my best friend. I can't remember having so much fun with anyone else but you. So why not? We're stuck here on this damn ship for 5 years so let's give it a shot and see where it takes us."

 _'That and we gotta keep breaking off a piece of that Naruto ass.'_ Inner said.

 _'Hush.'_

That was the final push as Naruto's dam broke. Without warning, Sakura felt herself be enveloped buy a pair of strong arms and felt a warm liquid run down the side of her face.

"Y-you have... No idea how long I've waited to hear you say that... I'm so sorry for acting like such an asshat... I'm sorry, Sakura-chan..." Naruto sobbed softly on Sakura's shoulder.

She took him into her own embrace.

"It's alright Naruto, we've both made mistakes to get to where we are now. What matters is that we give this an honest shot." She said as she rubbed circles on his back in a smooth and comforting manner.

Naruto started to calm down as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked up and saw that the terminal screen on the desk had an image of him and Sakura from last night.

"What's that?" Naruto chocked out and cleared his throat.

Sakura pulled away from Naruto slowly and turned to look at the computer screen.

"Oh, that. That is the proof you wanted. Computer, play from current time index." Sakura said.

The video started playing from the place Sakura selected.

 _"Naruto, our dinner is getting cold. Save the booze for after dinner, eh?" Sakura said._

 _"Can do Sakura- HIC! -chan!" Naruto giggled. Seriously, what a lightweight._

 _"You're drunk already? Wow... Hinata wasn't kidding." Sakura said in shock._

 _"Ah what does she know... She never wants to have any fun with me... HIC!" Naruto slurred._

 _"Naruto, you're drunk. You don't know what you're talking about." Sakura said._

 _"Shhshshshshhh.." Naruto drunkingly shushed. "Our relationship is almost like yours with Sasuke...Hic!" Naruto slurred. "It's like I do everything for her so long as its what I want, never what she wants. She's too submissive and timid and it gets annoying."_

 _"Oh Naruto-kun, let's do whatever you want to do. Oh Naruto-kun, anything you suggest is fine. Oh Naruto-kun...bah!" Naruto did his best mimic of Hinata's voice._

 _Naruto slammed down a glass of Romulan ale and dropped the empty glass on the floor. "Ugh! Damn that shit's strong!" Naruto slurred as he wobbled over to the couch._

 _"4 months ago, I pushed to do something she wanted to do and she got mad at me, causing a big argument over nothing... HIC" Naruto said as he flopped down on the couch. "I'm surprised I stayed with her as long as I did. I said I was tired of always pulling her along with whatever I wanted to do and said I didn't want a life like that. So she left. I say good riddance." Naruto slurred as his body swayed on the couch._

 _"She always seemed weird to me anyway... HIC!"_

 _"We got back together after that though...She promised to be more assertive though, so that's nice...Hic..."_

 _"The problem is, I have yet to see a change in her... I think she'll always be like that...HIC!"_

 _"OH YA KNOW WHAT!? She was more assertive at first...but cha know what the real kicker is? Turns out we don't have a damn thing in common... She doesn't like ramen, or pulling pranks... what the Hell is with bird watching anyway?"_

 _"...We broke up agaiiin... Thiiis time for gooood...HIC!" Naruto slurred. "III Don't think she ever really loved me..."_

 _"Personalllly... I think you should dump Sasuke... That Teme is making you miserable so just drop him like a hot potato... Focus on what you want... HIC!"_

 _"That's... What Dr Crusher told me." Sakura said as she slammed down her third glass of wine and poured herself a glass of Romulan ale._

 _"Aaand... Shees right..." Naruto slurred as he pointed his finger at Sakura. "You... Yooouuu better listen to her."_

 _"You are absolutely cocked." Sakura snickered._

 _"And yoooooooouuuuuuuu look sexy as fuck..." He slurred with a grin._

 _"Ahah... I don't think so, Baka." Sakura said sternly. "Not on your life."_

 _Naruto looked down rejected. "Typical..."_

 _Sakura looked at Naruto quizzically as she took a gulp of her ale. "What do you mean by that?"_

 _"You're a really big bitch, sometimes, you know that?" Naruto said suddenly, shocking Sakura._

 _"I have loved you for sooooooo long. And I've done sooooooo much for you... And you never even look my way, but you always look at the freaking Teme, and I'm still dumb enough to just settle for your friendship..."_

 _"I think that's just the alcohol talking, Naruto." Sakura said quietly._

 _"No its not...I'm sober...I'm always sober... always make sure of that, healing my HIC alcohol like poison or somethin..." Naruto swayed in his seat back and forth._

 _"Mr. Fluffles?" Sakura said in confusion. "You are drunk, Naruto." Sakura chuckled. But her smile quickly went away. "But... You're right... I have been too much of a bitch towards you, taking your kindness for granted." Sakura just looked away from Naruto. "And what have I done to deserve it? nothing compared to what you've done for me."_

 _Sakura slammed down the rest of her ale and poured herself another glass and downed that too. Already she was starting to feel the effects of this new alcohol._

 _"Yer damn...BLUGH!" Naruto puked all over the counter top. He then righted himself and stared at it for a second._

 _"That should be inside of me..." He pointed out. "Kurama-adama, what're ya doin' in there ya foxy beast?!"_

 _"Naruto..." Sakura said, her voice starting to slur. "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am... I never even realized it until now and it hurts to know that I've taken your kindness for granted as much as I have." Sakura said sadly._

 _Even in his inebriated state, Naruto could still recognize that he had hurt Sakura and his old instincts kicked in._

 _"No, no, Sakura don't be sad. I didn't mean what I said... I was out of line. I can't expect you to return your feelings to me if you don't have them. The last thing I want to do is force you into anything. That's not...it would be you then..."_

 _"But it's true!" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto, tears running down her face. "I have taken advantage of you since the beginning and never gave it a second thought! You have been in love with me for as long as I can remember and How did I return your love? By running off with that bastard that doesn't give two shits about me... At first I thought breaking up with him just because I was going to be gone so long was selfish on my part. But considering our relationship up till now, I'm glad I did."_

 _"Y-you did? You broke up with Sasu-kay?" Naruto slurred in disbelief. It didn't make any sense. Sakura loved Sasuke, she always did._

 _"Yes I did! I don't know what I ever saw in that man... No, scratch that. He isn't a man! He's a fucking JOKE! Makes me do everything and doesn't even give me the attention I deserve and then treats me like I'm just some piece of ass by trying to get me knocked up to revive his clan. Well, little did that asshole know that I had been using a contraceptive jutsu this whole time. Like Hell i'm going to mother a child whose father is never around..." Sakura slurred angrily._

"Computer pause recording." Sakura said. The recording paused and she looked upon a stunned Naruto that couldn't believe that he just saw and heard.

"Oh my God... I can hardly believe it..." Naruto said in a hushed tone.

"Imagine my shock when you told me about Hinata. Or were you just drunk and that wasn't true?" Sakura asked, afraid of the answer.

"Oh no, all of that is true. She's too timid, clingy, and she never wants to do anything she wants to do. Always about what I want." Naruto confirmed firmly.

"At first it was nice, ya know. Have someone completely dedicated to me, someone I didn't have to try with. But before I knew it she quickly became boring. I kind of wanted her to be more like you."

"Awe..." Sakura gushed as she blushed. But then shifted for a minute. "Wait, like me in what way?"

"Oh you know, stern, authoritative, not letting me get away with anything, scolding me when I screwed up or went too far." He admitted.

 _'Someone wants to be dominated.'_ Inner thought.

 _'Fine by me. At least he'll let me.'_ Sakura responded back.

"So she was too soft for ya, huh? Well you know me, you ain't gonna have it easy with me like you did her." Sakura smirked.

"Same with me Sakura-chan. I'm gonna freaking smother you with affection like you deserve." He smirked, his hands rubbing up and down her lower back.

Sakura smiled as she was getting ready to jump him right then and there.

"I should've accepted you a long time ago." Sakura said as she practically smashed her lips against his.

"And I should have punched Sasuke's fucking lights out when he first asked you out." He returned the kiss with gusto.

Sakura laughed against Naruto's lips as the kiss grew more passionate and heated. Naruto's hands were exploring over Sakrua's back as she ran her fingers through his long blond hair. Eventually, Naruto's hands found their way to the font of Sakura as he cupped one hand on her cheek and another on her left breast and fondled it without even thinking. Sakura's pleasure filled moan snapped him back to reality as he realized what he had done. Quickly, he snapped his hand back and pulled away.

"Sorry!" Naruto said frantically.

Sakura then cupped his left butt cheek and gave it a firm squeeze. "Don't be." She said before resuming their make-out session. Her other hand trailing up his front learning the highs and lows of his pecs that only a lifetime of training could give him.

Naruto was shocked at Sakura's sudden action, but then the memory of last night played through his mind courtesy of Kurama.

 _ **'You're welcome...'**_ Kurama said with a bored tone.

"I have an idea." Sakura said suddenly, enlisting a protest from Naruto who wanted to keep going.

"You know how the computer has video of us talking, right?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "What are you suggesting...?"

"Well, the computer recorded a lot more than that. A LOT more. So I'm thinking the two of us snuggle up together on the couch and watch it." Sakura smiled her most devious smile.

 _ **'Kinky.'**_ Kurama said.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed in shock. "Um... Okay. Sure. Gotta say, didn't expect that from you."

"There's a lot about me you wouldn't expect." Sakura said as she ever so slowly leaned back on her side, inviting Naruto to lay down behind her. "Now are you going to sit there all day or are you going to cuddle up with me?"

 _ **'Ensign Uzumaki, photon torpedo is ready to fire.'**_ Kurama snickered.

 _'Ha ha.. Laugh it up... Mr. Fluffles!'_ Naruto snickered back.

Kurama growled. _**'I'ma hurt you, boy. I'ma hurt you real bad.'**_

Naruto laughed out loud at Kurama's actions as he snuggled up to Sakura.

"What's so funny?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing. Just picking on Kurama."

"Kurama huh? How is he doing?"

That one threw both Naruto and Kurama for a loop. It was common knowledge in the Leaf now that Naruto was the jinchuriki to Kurama the 9 Tailed Fox. Most still loathed Kurama for attacking the village 20 years ago and made a point to not even acknowledge him being a part of Naruto. As far as anyone was concerned he was like one of Naruto's summoning animals. A living tool at his beck and command. To acknowledge him as a sentient being that lived side by side (or inside) of Naruto was one thing. To ask about how his day was going was another.

"Um, I can bring him out for you if you want. I can just have him control a shadow clone." Naruto suggested.

 _ **'The Hell are you doing Kit? Don't bring me out, focus on laying with her.'**_

 _'Hey, she asked how you were. so how are you?'_

 _ **'I'm trapped in a dense 20-year-old who is about to kill the mood. I'm doing fine!'**_

Naruto just rolled his eyes and returned to his new girlfriend. "Never mind. He's being a stick in the mud. He says he's fine, by the way."

"Oh that's good. You should bring him out more often. It's gotta be boring stuck inside you all the time." Sakura said.

 _'Not like it is with us. BOOM!'_ Inner Sakura said, dropping a mental mic.

 _ **'Wait, what?'**_ Kurama said in shock

"Wait, what?" Naruto repeated.

"Seriously. You should give him a release from time to time." Sakura confirmed.

"I uh, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Naruto said. This was not the reaction he was expecting. When Hinata finally came to realize that Kurama was a constant presence in Naruto's life, she was skeptical. The thought that there was another entity inside Naruto seeing everything he did (or everyone) was discomforting. Hinata had even suggested them both try to find ways of removing Kurama. That was not a pleasant discussion at all. Yet here was Sakura, being completely accepting of Kurama. Or perhaps it hadn't yet dawned on her what it meant to be sleeping with a jinchuriki.

"Where... exactly are you going with this anyway?" Naruto asked.

"No particular reason... at the moment. Let's just say, I have an idea I've always wanted to try but Sasuke was never willing to give me that pleasure. I'm pretty sure he already knows about last night." Sakura said.

Inside Naruto's subconscious the host and the demon looked at one another.

 _'No.'_ _ **'No.'**_ They both said at the same time.

"No." Naruto said aloud.

 _'Damn.'_ Sakura and her Inner self thought at the same time.

Sakura sighed. She was disappointed, but she'd try again at a later time. This is a new relationship and they want to work out all of the kinks before trying anything new in bed.

"Alright. Thought I'd ask." Sakura said a little disappointed. "Well, anyway. Let's enjoy the show. Computer, resume playback."

Naruto smoothed his way into the couch behind Sakura. Snaking his arm underneath her and wrapping them around her protectively. She fit into his arms like a long missing puzzle piece. She wrapped her own arms around his securely. Their legs intertwined with one another. Naruto breathed deeply into Sakura's short hair, she smelled like strawberries and sex from last night, it was intoxicating.

They watched their first night together, although they couldn't remember most of it. They laughed at the part when Naruto fell on the floor and when Sakura ripped apart her robe.

"So that's what happened to my robe." Sakura laughed.

"Oh man. For a second I thought I... ya know... forced myself on you." Naruto sighed in relief.

Sakura smirked. "As if I'd let you, please." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle in agreement. One side effect of having monster strength was that no one could touch Sakura if she didn't want them too. And if they did, they quickly regretted it.

They then started watching the part where Sakura was getting ready to plop down on Naruto when he stopped her.

"Why the hell did I do that?" Naruto asked.

"That's what I'd like to-oooooohhh..." Sakura said as she saw Naruto on the screen eat her out. "Damn, I wish I could remember that. I never had that happen to me before."

"Yeah, sucks that we can't remember most of this. I guess we'll just have to make new memories." Naruto offhandedly suggested.

"Yes we will, you can count on that. Probably after this. Not gonna lie, I'm getting horny. And you're poking me." Sakura said in a sultry tone.

"It's not my fault you've got such a great ass."

"That explains why I always caught you staring."

"Guilty." He smiled into her hair.

"It's yours now anyway, so stare all you want." Sakura said softly. Naruto was about to do just that when they both heard Sakura on the screen scream. they looked over to see Sakura drenching Naruto's face.

"Oh my god... I have never done that before..." Sakura said in shock.

"Really? That happens to me all the time."

"Wait, you mean Hinata is a squirter?" Sakura asked in shock. "I never would have pegged her for that."

"Oh yea, she squirts like a damn fire hose. But you on the other hand, squirt like a broken dam. I think that's a large improvement." Naruto said happily.

"Oh, Naruto..." Sakura said in a happy tone.

They kept watching until Naruto spoke up again.

"Did Sasuke seriously never make you cum?"

"No, he never did. Once he was satisfied, that was it and didn't want to do anymore. I would masturbate to finish off what he never finished. He was only trying to impregnate me to rebuild his clan..."

"Wow that is just... inexcusable. It's a man's duty to leave his partner satisfied. At least that's what Pervy Sage always taught me."

"For once, he was right on the money. Like I said, I would have broken up with Sasuke eventually. the love was just one sided and he never once showed me any affection. So, fuck him. He lost out."

Naruto took a once over glance at the young woman laying before him. "Damn right he did."

"And Hinata missed out on probably the greatest man in the Galaxy. Even if he is a bit of a dunce." Sakura said with a giggle.

"I wouldn't say she missed out. She got her fair share. It's just you get the whole pot now."

"True. Her loss, my gain."

On the holographic projection, the two love birds could see Sakura gearing up to give Naruto his payback from earlier.

"Where did you learn to do that with your hands?"

"I'm a doctor, remember? I know what makes your dick tick."

"Mmhmm... I suspect other methods of learning." Naruto said with a smirk.

"That's for me to know." Sakura teased. "Even now I'm still surprised by your size. Probably why I'm still a little sore. Something I never had with Sasuke the pencil dick."

 _'You ever gonna stop mentioning Sas-gay? He's old news. Let's enjoy our newest Boy Toy.'_ Inner commented.

 _'I will. But maybe he would like to know where he truly stacks up to that asshole, and I'm not talking about power. Naruto has him beat right where it counts.'_

 _'Or he'll think you're trying to cover up something.'_

"Oh man, I remembered that one." Naruto said, jogging Sakura back to reality. He was pointing out the moment of release.

"Yea I do too. Man I never knew any man could pump out that much."

"Well I've gotta keep up my reputation as the most unpredictable ninja somehow." He joked, earning a playful slap from Sakura.

"Well, I think I may be stepping on your title. How many times have I surprised you just within the last few days?"

"You're right. This just won't do." Naruto said in an overly dramatic, sarcastic voice. "I was prepared to give you the pants in the relationship, but my title of maverick ninja is too much damn it."

Sakura laughed. "You're too much, you know that?"

"Only for you, cause you make it so fun." Naruto smirked as he kissed the back of Sakura's head again.

Now came the part they were both waiting for and the part they both remember fondly; their intimacy in Sakura's bed.

"Oh, this is the part where you really lived up to your title." Sakura pointed out as the Sakura on the screen screamed when Naruto shoved his member into Sakura. "That was a major surprise and I thought it wouldn't all fit at first."

"Aren't you a doctor? I thought woman could expand or something?" Naruto teased.

"Ha ha... Well we can both tell Sai later that he can't call you Dickless anymore." Sakura giggled.

"Oh yeah, that'll be a welcome back greeting. 'Hey Sai, turns out I do have a penis. A real seal clubber too. Suck on that.'" Naruto said in a deep voice.

"BAHAHAHAAA! Oh my God I would PAY to see that!" Sakura hysterically laughed.

"Hahaha, me too. Damn, I wish we had a phone or something to talk to the guys back home."

"Yea I hear ya. I asked Crusher about it and we can't talk to them simply because they don't have the technology to receive our message."

"Ah Shit!" Naruto suddenly shouted, startling Sakura.

"What?"

"Sai. Damn it all, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him before we left."

"Oh shit! I didn't either! Fuck!" Sakura cursed as she realized her mistake. "Oh he's gonna hate us when we get back..."

"No you don't understand Sakura. Before we got this mission. He told me that he was gonna propose to Ino. He wanted me to be his best man..."

Sakura jumped off the couch in shock and landed on the floor in a position where Naruto could see up her robe.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! GOD DAMMIT!"

Sakura got up and shook her head sadly. "Oh man, this royally sucks... I never knew... aw man... And we can't even tell them where we are and what we're doing..."

"Shit, I mean...he'll probably learn it through Ino or someone else, but damn it all. I helped him pick out the ring and everything..."

Sakura took in a deep breath and sighed loudly. "Well... Kinda too late to do anything about it now. Shit... Boy, doesn't this ruin the mood..." Sakura said sadly.

"Yeah, sorry about that Sakura-chan."

"Don't worry about... No wait, actually do worry about it and come over here to comfort me." She said, a small tear threatening to fall. Naruto immediately sat up and concealed her in a hug, they both rocked back and forth while their video selves continued fucking on screen.

"It's gonna be a long five years isn't it?" Naruto asked over Sakura's quiet sobs.

"Maybe not with you here..." Sakura said softly. Her mind was going back to when Sai and first joined their team. At the time, Naruto hadn't learned how to use his golden Kyuubi mode. The moment he first laid eyes on Sai, he wanted to summon Gamabunta and-

"THAT'S IT!" Sakura shouted in realization.

"What's it?"

"Naruto, summon a toad if you can. That toad can tell Lady Tsunade and our friends everything we want them to know! Why didn't I think of it before?!"

"You're a genius, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried as he kissed her right on the forehead.

"It's what I do!" Sakura said with a smile.

Naruto wasted no time flashing through the hand signs to summon one of his Toad companions. Slamming his hand down on the ground, the room was filled with smoke for an instant before revealing a small toad with a goatee.

"Naruto-boy it's been far too long."

"Hey ya, Fukasaku ya Old Toad, how are you?" Naruto replied.

"Oh my back is killing me and Ma's been yapping in my ear day in and day out. Other than that I'm doing great. What can I do for ya?"

"We need you to send a message to Lady Tsunade and our friends. We're on a top secret SS-ranked mission right now and can't tell you where exactly we are." Sakura explained. But the old toad was wise to her as he looked out the window from the back of the couch.

"You're with Star fleet I presume?" He asked as soon as he noticed they were out in space.

"What?!" Both ninja's exclaimed. "How-"

"Let's just say this isn't the first time those space explorers contracted the help of the Leaf's ninjas. And I happen to be old enough to remember."

"You're kidding... Wow..." Sakura gasped out.

"Right so. If you're anything like your predecessors, you probably want me to deliver a message am I right?" The Toad Sage deduced. Age might have caught up with his body, but not his mind.

The old toad looked up and the holographic projection that was still playing. "I hope that isn't the message."

Sakura looked up to what the Toad was talking about and her entire face went beet red.

"Oh god! Computer discontinue playback!" Sakura shouted and the image disappeared.

"Grandpa Toad, I can explain-" Naruto began, but Fukasaku held up his hand to silence the flustered boy.

"It's none of my business. Youth will be young only once." He said lowering his hand. "Now what was the message?"

"It's a private message for our friend Sai actually." Naruto began.

"You want to finally tell him that you actually do have a seal clubber?"

"NO!" Both Naruto and Sakura shouted, both red faced as hell.

"We both didn't get the chance to say goodbye to Sai before we left on the Enterprise." Sakura started.

"The Enterprise? That old bucket is still around? Kirk must be almost as old as I am now." The old toad croaked.

"Kirk? Whose Kirk?" Naruto inquired.

"He's the captain of the Enterprise. Surely you've met him if you're here."

"Um, no. The captain of this ship is Jean Luc Picard." Sakura informed.

The old toad looked at Sakura in bewilderment. Then something came to his mind.

"What's the registry number of this ship?" He inquired.

Naruto shrugged but Sakura pointed it out on the screensaver on the terminal screen.

"NCC-1701-D." Sakura read off.

"Ah, that's why. Different Enterprise." The old toad said. "So, what am I telling this Sai boy?"

"Just tell him that me and Sakura-chan are on a 5-year SS-class mission. He'll understand, but we won't be able to attend his and Ino's wedding..." As Naruto said this a new wave of sadness hit Sakura, as it did Naruto. "Tell him, we're sorry..."

"And tell him to tell Ino-pig when he does get around to proposing to her that... That I said congratulations." Sakura choked out.

"Ah, young love... Alright. I shall return when I have told him. And..." The old toad started. "It's about damn time you two got together." He croaked before turning into a puff of smoke and disappearing.

Naruto pulled Sakura into a comforting hug as she started sobbing a little harder, to which she returned.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: samuraipanda85; Update for the fans of Legacy of Heroes. I apologize for the wait, because for this part in the story I have decided to write the majority of it entirely on my own. And the past month was just a haze of holiday parties, too many sweets, and wisdom teeth removal surgery. God willing, I'll get it up this weekend but that is what I told cmartinHFD last weekend.**

 **It IS coming…**

 **Inner: That's what he said. BOOM! _Drops mic_**

 **Kurama: Is this going to be a new thing with her?**

 **Samuraipanda85: Probably. Cmartin, thoughts?  
**

 **Cmartin: We'll see.**


	5. Chapter 5: First Date

"Captain's log; Star date 41671.8. We are wrapping up the repairs on the Peterson after a long and tiring battle. Soon the crew will be able to return to their ship. And for our part, we have acquired a large piece of Romulan technology that could be beneficial to the Federation in the long run. As for our two new Ensigns, I have given them the day off to relax after their first emergency situation. Afterwards, we are to depart to the Promellian star system to investigate in an odd reading coming from that area." Picard said into his log.

It was then that the bell to his ready room beeped.

"Come" Was Picard's answer. Riker walked in with a PAD in his hand.

"I have the full damage report, sir." Riker stated.

Picard let out a sigh as he took the PAD and started reading over it. He was not pleased to what he saw.

"8 crew members lost in the hull breach... That's a real shame..." Picard said with a heavy heart. He looked over the damage further to see that a lot of it was minor. "Well, this doesn't look too bad. The Enterprise has certainly seen worse." Picard said as he set the PAD down.

"Are we going to Star base 298 with the Warbird?" Riker asked.

"No. We are going to be headed to the Promellian star system once repairs are complete. We are detecting an odd reading in that area and we're going to investigate."

"One of the other ships couldn't do that?"

"We're an exploration ship. It's our duty. Besides, it is also the remnants of two long since extinct races and the battle they fought."

"So this is a history tour? Sounds like fun." Riker said with a grin.

"Indeed. And if from what Dr. Crusher has told me, I think a certain pink haired doctor would find this very interesting." Picard said with an amused tone.

* * *

Down in Naruto's and Sakura's room, the two new couple were sharing some Sonic Shower time. They have decided that today would be a good day to go out on their first real date together. Although, they have yet to decide on a location.

"What about Tenforward?" Naruto suggested as he massaged Sakura's shoulders, lathering them up.

"Too crowded. I want something more private. Plus, I heard that is more of a bar type of place." Sakura replied.

Naruto thought about it some more as his mind wandered.

"The arboretum?" Naruto asked.

"Interesting, but that's more of a second date thing." Sakura responded.

"What about that one sport thing Crusher mentioned? Bowling was it?"

"That sounds pretty cool, but we can do that later tonight. Where were you this morning?" Sakura asked.

"I was on the holodeck doing some training. Apparently they can generate these real opponents based off of other aliens for you to fight. They're piss weak though, I barely broke a sweat after 18 waves." Naruto said as his hands snaked around to Sakura's front.

"Can it create other areas?" Sakura asked as she felt Naruto lather up her boobs.

"I think so."

"Let's go by there and see what they ha-oh my god... Get your hand... mmm... out of my pussy please..." Sakura moaned. "Save... that for later..."

"Aw, but Sakura-chan... I'm hard as a rock right now..." Naruto whined.

 _'Oh... fuck it...'_ Sakura thought as she leaned against Naruto with her arms around Naruto's head.

"Just make it a quick one..." Sakura moaned.

* * *

Elsewhere, Geordi was working down in engineering to rebalance the warp core.

"Ensign, see if you can lock down that coupler. If that blows off, we're going to be in a heap of trouble." Geordi ordered.

"Aye, sir."

Geordi then made his way over to his office area and looked over the weapon systems and shields to make sure they were working okay.

"Lieutenant, What's the status of the phasers?" Geordi asked.

"The ventral emitters are giving me some trouble and the aft torpedo launcher is still offline. That last plasma torpedo did a number on it." the lieutenant said.

"Do what you can." Geordi said as he checked on the shields.

* * *

Sometime later, Naruto and Sakura found their way to Holodeck two. Naruto scrolled through all of the programs that was on the screen, but couldn't find one that he liked.

"So many to choose. Where do you want to go, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"How about Earth?" Sakura asked.

"SPECIFY LOCATION." The computer stated.

"The beach." Naruto commanded.

"THERE ARE OVER 148,000 LOCATIONS ON RECORD FOR SPECIFIED PLANET."

"Crap, this is tougher than I thought." Naruto said as he scratched his head.

"Hmm..." Sakura mused as she looked through the database. "Computer, display tropical areas with shallow surfs."

"THERE ARE 20 LOCATIONS ON EARTH THAT MATCH YOUR REQUEST."

Sakura looked through the program list until she found the one that she seemed to like the best.

"Resort Paradise in the Bahama's?" Sakura read.

"PROGRAM COMPLETE. ENTER WHEN READY." The computer said.

Sakura looked at Naruto who just shrugged as she did the same. The large doors slid open and revealed a beautiful sandy beach with crystal blue waters as clear as glass. Various tropical birds calling with the sun shining bright. Palm trees swaying in a light breeze as resort staff walked around.

It was perfect.

"Oh my god... Naruto it's so beautiful!" Sakura gasped out as the doors closed behind them and disappeared.

"Holy crap, now this is what I'm talking about." Naruto agreed.

They looked behind them to see the resort hotel with various guests walking about. They looked out into the water where they saw large waves and surfers in them. this truly was Paradise. But then Sakura looked upon her attire and Naruto's they were wearing their clothes that they had often worn throughout the years in Konoha and wasn't suited for a beach setting.

"Well, damn. While this is absolutely breathtaking, we're not really dressed for it." Sakura pointed out.

"Who says we need to be dressed?" Naruto replied in a husky voice.

"Oh you perv." Sakura giggled. "Computer, remove the people from the program, except for one person to serve us drinks."

The computer removed all the holograms of the personal and guests except for one.

"Make that person a giant living teddy bear." Naruto added.

"What the fuck! Hahaha!" Sakura laughed. "Why would you ask that?"

"I've always wanted to be served drinks by a giant living teddy bear." Naruto shrugged.

 _ **'Bullshit, you just feel uncomfortable with another man looking at your girl naked. Even when he's a damn hologram.'**_

 _'Well, you've seen her through me, how about I have you do it?'_ Naruto shot back.

 _ **'Maybe I will! I'll wear the vest and the bowtie and everything!'**_ Kurama replied without thinking.

 _'Deal!'_ Naruto smirked.

 _ **'What?! Wait, no!'**_

"Hold on a second, Sakura-chan." Naruto asked his lover. He then lifted up his shirt while focusing chakra into the tips of his fingers on his free hand. He caged his fingertips on the outer edge of the seal that appeared on his stomach. Then he gave it a good twist before raising his hand up and slamming it down into the sand.

"Demon Seal Summoning Jutsu!"

A massive explosion of sand and smoke covered the entire beach, blinding both Naruto and Sakura until the dust cleared, revealing an enormous blood red orange fox with the ears of a rabbit and 9 tails swishing individually.

 **"The fuck, Kit? You only released me at half my power!"** Kurama bellowed, his voice booming with every syllable.

"Yea because I don't want you blowing a hole through the ship. for that matter, see about reducing your size." Naruto said as he removed his shirt.

 **"I really hate you right now..."**

"Love you too." Naruto snickered as he dropped his pants.

Kurama grumbled as he used his jutsu to change his size. Sakura watched in awe as he shrank down from the size of the Hokage Tower down to the size of Akamaru.

 **"Is that better?"** Kurama growled.

"Much." Naruto stated as he slid off his boxers, leaving him stark naked to which Sakura blushed.

"Guess it's my turn, huh?" Sakura said.

"Oh yes, Kurama turn around." Naruto ordered.

"It's fine, Naruto. He's already seen me through your eyes, I'm sure." Sakura said as she removed her red top.

 **"Yeah Naruto, why are you hogging all the view?"** Kurama teased.

"Never you mind, how about you go put on that vest and bow tie like you promised?"

"Naruto, will you stop being a stick in the mud?" Sakura scolded as she removed her bra. "God. It's not like he's fucking me." _'Not that I would mind.'_ Sakura added in her head.

 _'And I thought I was the kinky one.'_ Inner commented.

 _'Well since asshole never tried anything I had to come up with some creative ideas for myself.'_

 _'Wow, you really are bitter about this.'_

Before Sakura could respond, Naruto once again jogged her back into reality.

"Sorry Sakura-chan... I guess I'm a little..."

 **"Oh for Sage's sake, he's jealous alright. He doesn't feel comfortable with other guys seeing you naked."** Kurama explained, so sick of Naruto's shit.

Sakura stopped pulling down her skirt midway to see the look on Naruto's face, confirming Kurama's statement.

"Is this true, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yes..." He replied sheepishly, ashamed at his own insecurities.

Sakura let her skirt drop and she walked out of it to be near Naruto.

"Stop being so silly, okay? I don't have a problem with it so long as no body tries anything and I don't have a problem with women seeing you, again so long as no one tries to do anything." Sakura said softly as she rubbed his shoulders.

Naruto relaxed a bit under her touch. "I know...but you know how protective I am of my friends. And you...you're something so much more."

"I know. But in reality, you are just as vulnerable as I am in the grand scheme of things. Kurama won't do anything to me and you know it. Just relax alright?" Sakura said. She stopped rubbing Naruto's shoulders long enough for her to pull down her panties. She picked them up and twirled then on her finger. "If you drop this matter and be good, I have a little something in mind for tonight." She said in a sultry voice as she threw her panties at Naruto which landed on his face.

Naruto just froze there standing still like a deer caught in his girlfriend's slightly damp panties. Until Kurama crept up behind him to whisper in his ear.

 **"Don't you fuck this up Kit or I WILL kill you."**

Sakura giggled at the two males' antics. It was nice to be keeping them both wrapped around her pinky.

"Kurama, would you be a dear and get Naruto and I a couple of drinks? Non-alcoholic please?" Sakura asked in a pleasant tone.

 **"I think Teddy Ruxben has already got you covered."**

Before Sakura could ask what he meant by that, a giant living teddy bear wearing a vest and a cute little bow tie walked into the middle of their circle carrying Virgin Daiquiris.

"Here you are Ma'am, heuh-hu." He giggled in an adorably deep voice.

"Oh, I don't think so. Computer, remove the teddy bear." Sakura said in indignation. The teddy bear disappeared and Sakura caught the tray of drinks.

"Aww, Sakura-chan..." Naruto whined, that was his dream she had made disappear.

"I'm sorry, but that was just too goofy for my taste. Plus, we're completely nude on a tropical beach. How does a teddy bear fit into all of this?"

 **"I like this girl. Far better than fish eyes."** Kurama commented.

Sakura smirked at Kurama. "Well, looks like there will be two of us to keep you in line, Naruto." Sakura said. She then started walking toward a lounge chair, swaying her hips making her bare, bubbly ass shift from side to side.

Kurama and Naruto stared on and drooled as they were mesmerized by Sakura's ass swaying around. Kurama was brought out of his staring when Naruto's boner almost got him in the face.

" **For Sage's sake, Kit! Put that away!"**

Sakura turned around to see what all the commotion was. She saw Naruto's member standing at full attention and Kurama looking away. She giggled at that.

"Look alive, boys!" She cried out, grabbing their attention.

She sat down in her lounge chair to bask in the artificial sun. Surprisingly it felt completely genuine, this holodeck was amazing.

Like trained puppies, they both jogged along the beach, Kurama's fur and Naruto's junk swaying in the breeze.

 _'Gotta love the view.'_ Inner commented. Sakura wholeheartedly agreed.

 _'It's taking every bit of will power I have not to jump Naruto's bones right now.'_ Sakura thought back.

 _'Damn girl, do you need some water? Cause you are THIRSTY!'_

 _'I hear you. I'm so drenched down south I could fill a bucket. Maybe it has something to do with my previous sexual neglect.'_

 _'Ok ok we get it. Sasuke was a bad lay. Quit harping on it already.'_ Inner groaned. Why is ever let her Outer-self get together with the Asexual Wonder was beyond her.

' _Um... Not really what I was referring to honestly. I was actually referring to my life as a whole. Remember how I would spend countless hours masturbating because I was too afraid to ask someone to help me deal with my sexual tensions?'_

 _'Oh... Yea I do remember. Should have asked Naruto.'_

 _'In hindsight, yea I should have.'_

 _'If only I had convinced you to give up on old Duck Butt sooner. Just think of all the years wasted. All the long boring stake-outs that could have been made more fun. But no, you just had to have your Tall, Dark, and Mysterious.'_

 _'Now whose harping?'_

 _'Oh shush, the boys want their next command.'_

Sakura was shaken out of her Inner conversation to see Naruto and Kurama stand over her chair looking concerned.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok? Snap out of it." Naruto said, waving his hand in front of the pinkette's face.

 **"You've done it now, Kit. Your flappy dick has fried her brain. Now how are we going to get you laid?"**

Without warning, Sakura jumped on Naruto and straddled him "Quite easily, really. Sorry, I was just thinking about some things." Sakura said as she stood up.

"This one... This one is definitely a keeper." Kurama said as he pointed a tail at Sakura.

"Thanks Kurama." Sakura giggled, earning a blush from Kurama. Thank the Sage he had fur.

 **"What can I say. There are few women in your village that would keep this idiot in line. Save for maybe that weapon loving one."**

Sakura and Naruto looked at Kurama quizzically.

"Weapon loving one?" Naruto asked. Then it dawned on Sakura who he was referring to.

"Oh, he means Tenten." Sakura stated.

"Tenten? Hmm... She's cool and all, but not really my type." Naruto said honestly.

"Yea... s-she's alright." Sakura said with a labored breath.

"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. He looked upon his girlfriend and she seemed to be shaking. He looked further down and saw that she was literally dripping in excitement. A big grin came to his face. "Do I need to do a site to site transport back to our quarters?" Naruto teased.

"But that would ruin our date..." Sakura said sadly.

"That can wait. You're struggling right now."

"I can handle it, Naruto. Don't worry about me." Sakura said. "Now Kurama, how about those drinks?" Sakura asked, fluttering her eyes at him. Kurama blushed again.

 **"I-ah, sure..."** He said with an embarrassed grin on his face.

"Can you get me one too?" Naruto asked.

 **"Bite me."**

Sakura laughed as she laid back down in her lounge chair. "Oh, can you bring me and Naruto a few towels? We may go swimming."

 **"I am not your damn-"**

Sakura gave Kurama her best puppy dog eyes.

"Please...?"

 **"Sure thing..."**

Kurama took off running to the hotel to get the drinks and towels while Naruto made himself comfortable on a lounge chair next to Sakura.

"This place really is amazing. The computer said this was Earth, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yup, if you told me it was Element though I wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"I know, right? Although I don't quite remember seeing waters this clear and pristine back home."

"You never went to the springs up north, in the Land of Rocks. Pervy Sage took me out of there during our journey. The water was like glass. But you're right, back in the Leaf they don't run this clear."

Sakura tilted her head and thought for a minute. "You're right, I've never been there. Was that before or after the Hidden Sky village attacked the Leaf?" Sakura asked.

"Before."

"Ah, okay. So yea, I've never been there. However, I do remember going to a beach on the other side of the Sand desert. That was cool, but still not as crystal clear as this."

"Yeah. Do you think the water is actually like this, or it's just the computer projection?"

"Hmm... That's a good question. Computer, is this simulation 100% accurate to the one on Earth or is this enhanced in some way?"

"THIS HOLOGRAM IS ACCURATELY BASED ON THE BAHAMA ISLANDS FROM THE CURRENT TIME PERIOD. NO ENHANCEMENTS MADE UNLESS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE." The computer responded.

"Computer, replace the sea water with Miso Ramen and all the fish with Pork." Naruto shouted to the sky. Instantly the sea turned to a muddy brown color with little ramen toppings floating to the surface.

"Really..." Sakura deadpanned.

"Yes, really." Naruto smirked, taking Sakura's hand into his own as they both lounged on their chairs and enjoyed the view.

Sakura sighed heavily. "This is borderline obsessive, Naruto. Seriously."

"Think of it this way Sakura, how much will power am I using by not running off to jump into that sea of ramen. Instead I'm content to just sit here with you." Naruto explained.

"Good point. I'll shut up." Sakura said with a smile. She closed her eyes and let the artificial sunlight beat down on her pale skin. She then let out a content sigh. "I wonder if we can get Starfleet to give us one of these things to take with us when we complete our mission."

"I've been thinking about that. How do we explain this technology to all our friends when we return? I mean we're supposed to keep our mission a secret forever right? Otherwise we violate the Prime Directive right?"

Sakura opened her eyes and looked at her blond boyfriend. "That's a very good question. Wait a minute, didn't Fukasaku said that Starfleet had visited the leaf before? If that's the case, how do we know we don't already have some of their technology in the Leaf R&D now?"

"Well how do we have all those x-rays and monitors?"

"There ya go. We probably studied them and adapted, just like we would with this current tech which is obviously a few hundred years more advanced."

"So we are going to usher in the next technological revolution? Sweet."

"I agree. The replicators will definitely end any hunger problems and the medical technology will be a major improvement. Yesterday when I was working on Captain Kim from the Peterson, I learned they have a type of pain killer stronger than morphine and also acts as a sedative."

"I'm sure you guys at the hospital will find that invaluable."

"I find it invaluable now! That was some amazing stuff. And the device Crusher used to seal up incisions and repair bleeding organs? Ooooo I can't wait!" Sakura gushed giddily.

Naruto smiled, he just loved to see Sakura get excited about things. Her smile was like a thousand-watt bulb.

"Also, just imagine the alliances we could make with this technology. The world could finally be at peace, like you wanted." Sakura said, to which Naruto smiled as he imagined the possibilities.

The two of them kept talking about such things. It was a welcome relief. Ever since they had begun their separate relationships the two of them had spent less and less time together. Until they both joined ANBU they had also stopped going on missions together. They hadn't just sat down to talk like this since the 4th War.

 **"Drinks and towels."** Kurama said as he approached Sakura's side.

"Thank you, Kurama. You're such a dear when you want to be." Sakura said with a wink.

 **"You're quite welcome."** Kurama replied. Then something unexpected happened, Sakura leaned forward to pet Kurama on the head.

Naruto went wide eyed, not just because Sakura had the moxie to pet the most powerful of the Nine Tailed Demons like a puppy, but that Kurama was eating it up, especially when she started scratching behind his ears. All nine of Kurama's tails wagged back and forth like a wave of fluffy tails.

Kurama began to let out a low and content growl as he enjoyed being pet like this.

 **"Mmm... Kit... Marry this one soon..."** he said suddenly, to which Sakura giggled.

"Oh, Kurama. That won't happen for a while. We just started dating." Sakura said happily.

 **"I don't care. You mated, so as far as I'm concerned that is marriage."** Kurama hummed, it felt soooooooo good.

"Well, until I get a ring on my finger, we're still just dating." Sakura said. She was amused simply because Kurama was basically putty in her hands as he thumped one of his back legs up and down.

"And even I'm not quite ready for marriage, thank you very much." Naruto commented, annoyed that he wasn't getting as much attention from Sakura.

Sakura picked up on that, but she'd get him later. She removed her hand from Kurama's head so she could have some of the drink Kurama brought for her and handed the other to Naruto. Then she looked upon the ocean of Ramen and sighed. She wanted to go swimming, but not in a sea of soup.

"Computer, return the ocean to its previous form." Sakura ordered and the sea of Ramen disappeared and turned back into the crystal clear blue waters, earning a pout from Naruto. Sakura gave a stern look to Naruto. "If I'm going to go swimming, it's not going to be in a sea of Ramen. sorry."

"Aw man, back when I was a kid it was always my dream to go swimming with you in a pool of ramen." Naruto admitted.

Sakura raised her eyebrows in shock. "Really? Why would you want to go swimming in food, though?"

Naruto laughed. "I don't know. I was 12, it sounded like a good idea. The girls of my dreams and an entire sea of ramen. For the longest time I never thought it would happen."

"What a minute... 'Girls'? As in more than one?" Sakura asked in a jealous tone.

"Oh yeah; you, and then several Shadow Clones of you." Naruto listed off.

"Oh... I thought you meant other girls from the village. I should have known."

 _'Do not tell her about the List!'_ Naruto frantically thought while keeping his outer emotions in check. Kurama heard him through the mental link they shared.

 **'Huuuuhh? Wazzat?'** Kurama thought back, his mind was in a blissful state of mush.

Sakura thought about it for a minute and she had some pretty wild dreams herself. Perhaps the one she wanted out of Naruto and Kurama could be fulfilled if she let Naruto have his.

"Alright, Naruto. I'll cut you a deal." Sakura said with a sigh.

"What's that?"

"I will create as many shadow clones of myself as I can and swim in the ramen with you if you and Kurama fulfill a dream of mine. Sound fair?"

"Depends on the dream. I'm not one for blindly accepting request now. Not since that Priestess." Naruto said.

"Oh my GOD! HAHAHAHAAA! I remember that! That was hilarious!" Sakura laughed hysterically.

 **"Tell me about it. I'm still laughing at that one. And this dork had the audacity to turn her down. That was a consequence free lay you prat."** Kurama ranted.

"Oh well. He's mine now." Sakura stated.

"Yes I am. Now what is this dream of yours Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, rubbing circles on the back of her palm with his thumb.

"Well... It's a little embarrassing to admit honestly and it doesn't have to be now. It pertains to what we talked about this morning." Sakura said as she started to blush.

"You mean in the butt?"

Sakura's face went completely red as she slowly nodded. "D-double penetration..." She gulped. This was a very embarrassing dream of hers and she wanted to have it fulfilled at some point.

"Wait, double penetration? I thought we were just talking about trying anal?"

"No... I want to have two guys at once... I know it's odd, but it's something I tried to get Sasuke to do for me and he never wanted to. It can be with just Shadow clones, not with another guy."

"You wanted to have sex with Sasuke and one of his Shadow Clones?" Naruto asked, slightly curious.

"No... If you really wanna know, I had asked him to add you into the mix, but he said no because you were in a relationship with Hinata. So I asked him to make a shadow clone instead and he said no."

"Wait, you wanted me to join you two on a threesome? And Sasuke only said no because I was already in a relationship?" Naruto asked with a look of horror on his face.

Sakura nodded slowly. "Yes... It's silly, I know..."

"Can't say I would have agreed. Nothing against you, but Sasuke is like my brother. And there were enough rumors flying around without us adding fuel to the fire, thank you very much."

"I think that was the other reason, honestly. But I'm glad you told me. I had often wondered what you'd say."

"I'd be flattered, don't get me wrong, just..."

"I understand. So that brings me to the subject at hand. Is this something you could fulfill for me?"

"Heh, who do you think you're talking too, Sakura-chan? I'm the undisputed master of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. I could conjure up enough Shadow Clones to satisfy even your libido."

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura said as she pulled him forward to kiss him.

 **"I've got refills."** Kurama interrupted, using his tails like tentacles to replace the dirty glasses with fresh drinks. He didn't feel like taking them all the way back to the bar, so he threw them into the tropical forest. Satisfied with his work, Kurama curled up at the foot of Sakura's chair where he hoped he could steal some more petting from Sakura.

"Now. Computer, return to sea back to Ramen." Sakura commanded and the sea was once again filled with miso ramen. Sakura got up from her chair and released her 100 Man seal, giving her a massive boost in Chakra. Forming a hand sign, she shouted Naruto's favorite technique. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Almost immediately, over 100 nude Sakura's appeared and Naruto almost passed out from a nosebleed.

"Alright, girls. Get your bouncy asses into the ramen." The real Sakura commanded.

"Not without our Naruto-kun we don't." One of the Sakura's cried out, enticing the surrounding Sakura's to shout in agreement.

"HURRY UP WILL YA?!" Naruto shouted from afar as he was already floating in the ramen.

"That son of a bitch." Sakura said with a smile. "Alright girls, you heard him!"

The many Sakura's all cheered. Like a stampede of pink, 80 or so Sakura clones rushed into the ramen surf while another 20 stayed behind to glomp Kurama and all his extremely pet-able fur.

In all his living memory, Naruto had never been more ecstatic to see a mob charging at him.

 _'If this is a dream, never wake me up.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'This isn't a dream, this is heaven.'**_ Kurama thought back.

As the first Sakura clone descended on Naruto, he playful splashed her with water as if to halt her in her tracks. Sensing a challenge, the Sakura clones trailing behind the first all darted left to right trying to zig zag and make it to Naruto first. He was having too much fun playing keep away though and dodged most of their advances.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto!"

"Come here Naruto!"

"Quit teasing us, Naruto!"

"Narutoooooo..." Several Sakura clones sang, trying to get the blond's attention long enough for one of their sisters to pin him down with a glomp. Naruto couldn't help but laugh out in delight. This was all too awesome for one man to contain himself.

A handful of Sakura clones even got together and had the brilliant idea that the poor boy was being over stimulated by all the nakedness and needed something new to focus on.

One by one, they each used the transformation jutsu to give themselves bathing suit unique to each clone.

Now it really was too much for the poor boy to take.

All around him there was Sakura in every imaginable kind of swim suit. From bikinis to one pieces, thongs to briefs, frills and strings, with bright colors or striped patterns, and everything in between.

"So Naruto, you like your dream come true?" The real Sakura asked. Naruto knew it was the real one seeing as she was the only one out of the group who wasn't wearing anything.

As he paused to ponder how best to respond, he was finally caught by half a dozen Sakura clones. All of which grabbed him by the arm or wrapped themselves around his waist or his neck. They kept teasing him too. Tracing circles along his skin, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. One clone even came up to Naruto and held out for him a small amount of Ramen broth she had cupped in her hands and held it to his lips. All of them vying for Naruto's attention.

The look on Naruto's face said it all to Sakura. It was a look of complete and utter bliss. The look of a man who could die right that very moment and be completely content.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sakura said with a content sigh.

The real Sakura looked upon the group of her clones that were smothering Naruto with affection. Then things changed when one of the Sakura's dropped her pants and plopped down on Naruto's member.

 _'Oh... Not what I was going for, but he seems to be happy.'_ Sakura thought to herself.

She looked over her shoulder to see her remaining clones in bathing suits treating Kurama like royalty. She smiled at that.

Kurama was so happy, he was actually giving several of the Sakura clones a ride on his tails, literally. One or two clones would each be sitting on one of his 9 glorious tails and held up in what could only be assumed as an attempt by Kurama to show off.

 _'Well, I guess I could take a little walk around. The boys are far too content to notice if I was gone.'_ Sakura thought as she started to roam around the beach. She made a transformation jutsu to be dressed in a rather simple bikini.

Sakura walked and combed the beach surrounding the area. Something came to her mind, however. Here she was almost a football field away from Naruto and yet the room they were in wasn't that big.

 _'How is that even possible?'_ Sakura asked herself. She honestly didn't have an answer for that, but seeing as its probably just part of the technology involved, she shrugged it off.

She bent down and picked up a coconut and with her amazing strength, she squeezed it until it cracked in half. She drank the water from said fruit and ate some of the meat inside.

 _'This room is amazing. Anything you can imagine this room can create. It can make edible food too. I can't imagine that some people haven't tried to spend the rest of their lives living in such a room. Completely abandoning the outside world.'_ Sakura thought to herself.

She continued walking down the length of the beach albeit slowly. Then she was brought out of her musings when the archway and door appeared out of nowhere. The door opened and in walked Dr. Crusher and Troi, dressed in casual clothes.

"Oh hi! I didn't know you were in here." Crusher said in delight

"We just came to relax after a long day. But it seems you're already here." Troi stated. "How did things with Naruto work out?"

"Oh they're um..." Sakura stuttered as behind her was a mob of Sakura clones have a massive pool party with Naruto. Whose whoops of joy could be heard all the way over at the entrance to the holodeck.

"We're doing great."

She quickly made a clone and dispersed it to notify her other clones that there were some guests in their party. One of the clones notified Naruto of the situation and the clones disappeared and Naruto donned a pair of swim trunks while he was still out of their sights.

"What's wrong with the water?" Crusher asked.

"Oh nothing, we were just testing out the capabilities of the holodeck and Naruto turned the sea water into ramen." Sakura explained.

The two women laughed at that.

"That's an odd thing to swim in. Although I dreamed often to swim in a pool of chocolate." Troi said.

"I know right? Still this room is amazing. I was wondering how anyone could ever to think of leaving this room when it can literally do anything."

"That it can, but there is a limit to what it can do. The holodecks to take up quite a bit of the ships power and the food and drinks may seem real, it actually isn't." Crusher explained.

"It may seem like it can do everything, but it's still all just a hologram. A false image if you will." Troi added. "A person can't live off holographic banana's and coconuts as they don't provide any nutrition."

"Oh... I can see where that makes sense now." Sakura said.

"May we join you?" Crusher asked.

"Actually this was kind of private-" Sakura began when she looked back and noticed that Kurama was no longer anywhere to be seen. She was certain that Troi and Crusher hadn't seen the Tailed Beast when they came in. Now it seemed that Naruto had returned Kurama to the seal inside Naruto.

"Okay. that's not a problem. We won't disturb you further." Troi said.

"Sorry to disturb your date. Next time, have the computer label this as a private hologram so people don't walk in." Crusher advised.

"Actually you know what? It's fine. You guys can come in. It would be rude to shoo you guys off like that." Sakura suddenly changed her mind.

"Are you sure?" Troi asked. "We don't want to intrude. There are 5 other holodecks."

"Nah, I think we've had our fun. Some company would be nice." Sakura smiled as Naruto began to walk up to the ladies wearing only his trunks.

Crusher looked over at Troi and they both nodded.

"Alright, however we're not swimming in that." Crusher stated as she pointed in to the sea.

"No problem. Computer, return the ocean back to water." Sakura ordered and the sea was once again turned into the crystal clear blue waters it once had.

"Computer, return the resort staff." Sakura added and the resort staff returned.

"Your emotions are glowing, for that matter you're glowing, Sakura. Did the security tape work well?" Troi asked.

"Maaaaayyyybe..." Sakura blushed.

Troi and Crusher giggled. "I'm glad you two worked things out. And may I say-" Crusher started but took a moment to watch Naruto show some of his loving affection to his girlfriend in front of the two, to which they could barely contain their joy. They watched as Naruto pulled Sakura in close and gave her a passionate kiss as a way of saying thanks. "-You two make a cute couple." Crusher finished.

"Thank you. I was finally able to get some sense knocked into his thick head. I'm happy we are giving this a try." Sakura said with a beaming smile.

"If I recall correctly, I came back after taking time to mull things over." Naruto pointed out.

"I still showed you the recording that confirmed what I was saying was true." Sakura pointed back.

"Yea, you did. All I can say is, I'm happy to be wrong." Naruto said softly.

"Ditto..." Sakura replied softly.

Then something reminded Sakura of something she needed to talk to Crusher about.

"Oh, Dr. Crusher. I need to talk to you about something. Privately if possible." Sakura asked.

"Of course. Come with me, we'll get a couple of drinks." Crusher stated. Much to Naruto's protest, Sakura left his side so she could talk to Crusher, leaving him with Troi.

"You really love her, don't you?" Troi asked.

"For as long as I can remember." Naruto replied without taking his eyes off of Sakura.

"I sense a great deal of love and longing for her from you. You're happy that she finally accepted you after a long time. It seems to be blocking out all of the old painful emotions you have experienced."

"I guess it's nice to be in a relationship with someone who sees me for me, not as a man on a pedestal." Naruto vaguely explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Troi asked.

"Just that... my old girlfriend was very loving. Almost to a fault. I could do no wrong in her eyes."

"And you didn't like that? Most men would kill to have a girlfriend or even wife that would let their man do whatever they wanted."

"Well yeah, don't get me wrong, it was great at first. But over the years I realized that I wanted more than just unconditional love, I wanted a relationship, a partnership. With someone I could call my equal. Yet with Hinata she was always too willing to please me, like she was scared I would dump her the first chance I got."

"I see. Sakura had told me that her relationship was... less than to her liking. I think her hearing that you broke up with Hinata is what brought her closer to you. I don't see the dark shadow that hung over her when she first came on board. I see a glowing, warm spark emanating within her anytime she is around you. You seem to be the sunshine in her life that she never realized she had."

"And that's why I want to be there for her and care for her no matter what. Her past relationship was borderline abusive and she deserves far better than that." Naruto said with a stern expression on his face.

Meanwhile, with the two doctors.

"You should have told me about your condition sooner, Sakura." Crusher scolded.

"I know. I just didn't know if you had a similar medication." Sakura replied.

"I can give you a hormone suppressant that works for up to a week. I can give you a birth control serum since you two seem to be active in that area."

"Actually, I have a contraceptive jutsu that is almost a perfect form of birth control. It traps the male's sperm from fertilizing my eggs and keeps them in a chakra cage until the sperm cells die." Sakura explained.

"Just another reason I think I need to learn some of this jutsu stuff. You are honestly nothing like the ninja's from Earth's history." Crusher said, which gained a look of shock from Sakura.

"Wait, Earth has ninja's?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Did have, and not on a grand scale like your world. Earth's ninja's didn't have the powers you have, however their job was that of a cold, calculating, night time assassin. The art of the ninja hasn't been practiced in over 3 centuries." Crusher explained.

"Fascinating, what happened to them?"

"They died out. Once our world attained world peace, there was no longer any need for them. Their martial arts are still practiced, but not their role." That surprised Sakura, and not in a fascinating way, in a terrifying way. To hear that the ninjas on Earth had died out after the world attained peace. In some ways, she couldn't help but equate that to her own world's current situation. It too was on the brink of obtaining global peace. What would that mean for the Five Great Ninja villages? For ninjas in general? It was hard to fathom. The idea that the cost of peace would be the slow extinction of her entire way of life.

"And their culture, what was that like?" Sakura asked, trying to take her mind off of what she had just pondered.

"Much like your own. there is a country on our world called Japan. If you visited that area, you would almost see a mirror image of your culture."

"So our worlds are really not all that different. How is it like that, I wonder."

"Jean Luc and I have come up with a theory on that. We believe that perhaps your world was once part of ours. Over the course of history, there have been speculations of alien species visiting Earth and we believe it may have been possible that one of those species had taken some humans from the early Japanese culture and brought them to a planet with similar qualities. How long ago, we can't say. Also there is no evidence to support this theory."

"It is an interesting theory and it is worth looking into. If it could be proven, we could usher an entirely new era for Element." Sakura said.

"That would be the idea." Crusher said as she sat down on a lounge chair and Sakura followed suit. Crusher looked around the beach and it was almost a perfect match to the one on Earth. But something caught her eye and she smirked. The discarded clothes of Naruto and Sakura laid in a pile nearby. Plus, what seemed to be paw prints in the sand and 9 trails that would be tails.

"Those are some interesting tracks. I don't think there was any animal on record that has nine tails." Crusher said suddenly.

Sakura looked around and saw that Crusher was talking about. With a horrified look, Sakura tried to come up with a cover story.

* * *

Back with Naruto and Troi.

"That is very horrible to hear... I had no idea your past was that painful." Troi said with sadness in her tone.

"It's not something I care to relive. But I figured you had the right to know..." Naruto stated plainly.

"Is there anything we can do to ease the pain you felt?"

"Nah. Sakura is all I really need. She has been there every step of the way. She may have been part of the problem a long time ago, but she saw me for who I really was; a scared orphan. She helped me gain my confidence back and become the man I am today. Without her in my life, it's hard to say what I would really be like." Naruto said with a smile.

"You are far stronger than any man I have ever met. And I mean that on an emotional sense. I think if anyone here on the Enterprise had lived a life similar to yours, they wouldn't be as calm and cheerful as you seem to be."

"Yea, well it wasn't easy, growing up with only one form of food to eat. Mostly because Ichiraku's was the only place that would serve me food. This is why I'm so obsessed with Ramen. It's all I ever had to eat. It's a shame this ship can't make a really good home cooked Ramen." Naruto said.

"Actually, if you want a real, home cooked ramen dish, I would talk to Keiko O'Brien. She's quite the cook." Troi informed.

"No way, seriously? That would be awesome. Food is food, but a home cooked meal always tastes the best." Naruto smiled.

"Oh sure. In fact, I make a pretty good chicken marsala if you're interested in that. I'm sure Will won't mind some extra company."

"Me and Sakura-chan would love to."

"Wonderful! I'll let him know." Troi then tapped her combadge. "Troi to Commander Riker." Naruto went wide eyed. He didn't know Riker was this Will she was talking about.

"Go ahead."

"We'll be having some company for dinner if you don't mind."

"Of course, I don't mind. Who is it?" Riker asked.

"Our new ensigns, Naruto and Sakura. They wanted a home cooked meal and so I offered."

"Sounds good to me. I like them so that's fine. See you later then. Riker out."

"You and Riker?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Oh yes. We were one together a long time ago and we're starting to reconnect." Troi confirmed.

"Well congrats. Seems all sorts of relationships are coming together." Naruto smiled.

"So it seems. If only Captain Picard and Dr Crusher can get together."

"I HEARD THAT, DEANA!" Crusher shouted from across the beach. Troi laughed nervously.

"Wha-Her and Picard?!" Naruto shouted.

"SHHH!" Troi hushed. "They're not really a thing, even though they have strong feelings for each other. They always have. You could say their relationship is a lot like yours and Sakura's was when you were growing up."

"Well then they should get together already. The sex is amazing." Naruto said in classic Naruto form.

"Ahem..." Came a voice behind Naruto. He turned around to see the two doctors cracking their knuckles.

 _ **'What did I say about fucking this up?'**_

 _'You said don't fuck this up!'_

 _ **'I know!'**_

"You wanna repeat that, Naruto?" Sakura growled as she cracked her neck.

"No I think I don't..." He replied, wondering where on the ship he could hide until Sakura calmed down.

Sakura just sighed as she shook her head. "You know, sometimes I wonder if you actually do have a brain."

"Now isn't that line familiar. I think you said that exact sentence to me back when we were kids."

"Yes I believe I have. Each and every time I'm reminded of that moment and why you act like such an idiot. But then I remember what you said to me on the day I was keeping your dumbass alive."

"Which one?"

"The one where you told me you acted that way because you loved me so much. So, that's why I'm not going to pound you into putty."

"Geez, thanks Babe." The grateful blond smiled. "Oh by the way, I don't know if you overheard, but Tori and Riker invited us over to their quarters tonight for a homemade dinner."

"R-really?" Sakura said in surprise, she looked over to Troi, who nodded in confirmation.

"If you want to that is." Troi said.

"What are you serving?"

"Chicken marsala. I'm cooking."

"Well, in that case, absolutely. What time?"

"1800 hours." Troi said.

"Sounds good, me and Sakura-chan were also gonna try bowling later this evening. I don't know if you two and Crusher would like to join us and give us some tips?" Naruto suggested.

"It's the senior staff bowling night anyway. So, that works out." Crusher said.

"Oh I thought that was last night?"

"We had to postpone it due to the excitement yesterday." Troi informed.

"Ah... That makes sense." Sakura chimed in.

"To be honest, we were too busy last night with th-YOOWWW!"

"SHUT UP, IDIOT!" Sakura screamed after she wailed him on the head.

 _ **'You never learn, do you...'**_

 _'Learn what?!'_

 _ **'Never mind...'**_

"Ugh... What am I going to do with you? You're lucky I love you a lot." Sakura said.

"Forgive me?" Naruto tentatively suggested.

"Already done. Like I said, it's a good thing I love you. Just, try to think before you speak, okay? I know thinking isn't your strong point, but come on."

"Right right." He said, rubbing the back of his head while his other arm snaked around Sakura's waist.

"Well, now that is all out of the way, lets relax for a while." Troi said.

Everyone nodded and took some seats in a few lounge chairs. Sakura decided she was going to lay with Naruto in his lounge chair while they enjoyed the artificial sun. Sakura soon felt herself dozing off as Naruto listened to the conversation between Troi and Crusher about the upcoming bowling game.

"Oh no! I'm not taking Riker's bet this time. The last time I did, I was cleaning the battle bridge for a week." Crusher said.

"Battle bridge?" Naruto asked.

"Worf didn't tell you?" Troi asked. "This ship has the ability to separate into two separate ships. The battle bridge is part of the star drive section."

"What?! That is awesome! Is there no end to this ship's wonders?"

"Well, that's over 300 years of technological advancements for you." Crusher offhandedly pointed out.

"Seriously. Is there anything this ship can't do?"

"Time travel." Both Troi and Crusher said.

"Is there some meaning behind why you both answered so quickly and at the same time?" Naruto inquired.

"Not particularly." Crusher said.

"Well, we do have the capability to travel back and forth through time as discovered by James T. Kirk over 100 years ago. He took a Klingon Bird of Prey and used the sun's gravitational pull to slingshot around it at maximum warp, finding him and his crew from the late 23rd century to the late 20th century. But the Enterprise is far too large to perform that maneuver. Also, Starfleet forbade it to keep time unaltered." Troi explained.

"Captain Kirk? Where have I heard that name before?" Naruto thought aloud.

"When you summoned Fukasaku..." Sakura yawned as she snuggled deeper into Naruto's chest, her legs laying between Naruto's. She was so cute, Naruto couldn't help but think of her like she was a kitten.

"Is it possible to get a tan with this artificial sun?" Sakura asked, her eyes still closed.

"The artificial sun does put out enough UV rays to get a decent tan without harming your skin." Crusher explained.

"Good to know... Naruto, untie my top please? I don't want a tan line on my back..." Sakura asked.

"Sure." Naruto untied Sakura's bikini top, letting the strings to fall to her sides. "You want the bottom done, too?"

"No, just the top..." Sakura said sleepily.

Naruto nodded as he began to remove more of her top, then she stopped him by grabbing his hands.

"I said untie it, not remove it." Sakura said quietly.

"Aw, alright."

"We're not alone here. If it were just the two of us, it would be different."

"If you want to remove your top, go for it. It's not like you have anything we haven't already seen. Or have for that matter." Crusher stated.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable." Sakura said as she opened her eyes.

"We have learned to be comfortable with our bodies so that we may share other cultures wishes should they ask." Troi stated. "Betazoids, like myself, seldom wear clothes at places such as a beach or at weddings. It's a tradition among my people."

"Well... I'm not overly comfortable with it." Sakura said with a blush.

"How many times have we gone to the bath house, Sakura-chan?" Naruto pointed out.

"That's different."

"How is it different?"

"I usually went with girls I know. We really don't know anyone here." Sakura shot back.

"Oh right..." Naruto replied. "Well, it's the quickest way I know to make new friends."

"How the hell is showing off my tits to two strangers - no offense - a good way to make new friends, you pervert?!" Sakura spat heatedly.

"Ya get all the awkwardness out of the way immediately. Besides, they're both woman. No harm in it."

 _'Besides, one is a doctor who not only has her own lovely set but has seen many herself. The other is an alien species were clothes on their world are optional. Let the girls be free.'_ Inner interjected.

"Oh alright..." Sakura said as she sat up and removed the rest of her top. "Satisfied...?"

Her answer came with something poking her between her legs. She blushed heavily and smirked.

"You are such a perv..." Sakura teased as she playfully slapped Naruto's chest.

"Not my fault I'm surrounded by three beautiful women and I get to date the prettiest and most amazing one of them all." He said with a fox like grin on his face.

 _'Oooh... Ask them for a foursome!'_ Inner begged.

 _'NO!'_

 _'Oh come on! He seems to be all for it.'_

 _'Well, I'm not and I doubt they would be either.'_

"That was sweet of you to say, Naruto. Had you been a Betazoid, your girlfriend would have initiated the mutual bond, in which we would have intercourse with the male party." Troi informed.

 _'You were saying?'_

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we're not Betazoid. I have a problem with sharing." Sakura said which got a laugh from the other two women.

"So you want to hog a big, strapping young man all to yourself and leave us hanging?" Crusher teased.

Without skipping a beat, Sakura lowered her hand to cup Naruto's junk. "Yes I do." She replied without tearing her eyes away from Crusher. The whole group burst out in laughter. 

* * *

**Thank you all for following along with this story. I honestly wanted to keep it a short story, but seeing as all of you love it so much, I'm keeping it going for a long while. We are working on chapter 19 for Legacy of Heroes and we will be releasing a triple crossover story soon called Quint Wizard Tournament. 3 guesses what that one is about. :P**


	6. Chapter 6: Night Out

**Author's Note from samuraipanda85: Hey everybody, Panda here, about a month ago we received a review from Kaelin The Black Swan, who had some harsh things to say about our fic. At first glance we were ready to dismiss it as another shipping hater, but upon closer inspection we realized that she made a few good points. That perhaps we could be writing Sakura better, better than we have been anyway. I will say that it probably won't be influencing the chapters that are already mostly done, but we still encourage you, our readers, to vocalize any flaws you see in our chapters, even if it seems harsh. We can only get better through critique. So thank you Kaelin for opening our eyes a bit and to everyone else who read our stories.**

Up on deck 3, the senior staff, plus Naruto and Sakura, were getting ready to enjoy a game of bowling. The two ninja's have never played before, so they decided that they would watch for the first game.

Geordi, Worf, Riker, Picard, Crusher, Troi and Data all were gathered around one of the lanes to start their game.

"Alright. So how are we doing this." Riker said as he stood up to program the score board.

"I think we can do with just one lane for now." Picard stated.

"Fair enough. You sure you two don't want in? It's really not that hard." Riker said as he looked at the two ninja's.

"Actually, yeah, we will go first. What the Hell?" Naruto spoke up.

"Alright. so that's 9 players on one lane. Be sure to put on your shoes if you haven't yet." Riker said as he programmed everyone's name in.

The computer took everybody's names and randomly shuffled their order. The noise it was making reminded Naruto and Sakura very much of the announcement board during the preliminaries for the 3rd test of their first chunin exam.

With that 'happy' memory passing through their minds, the computer stopped on the first name.

SAKURA

"Oh boy, looks like I'm first." Sakura stated, a little nervous.

"You'll be alright." Crusher said as she handed Sakura a ball. "You stick your ring and middle fingers into the two holes here and your thumb in the larger hole. Then you roll the ball down the lane and try to hit as many pins as you can." Crusher explained.

Sakura nodded and approached the bowling lane.

"You got this, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered, transferring some confidence to the pink firecracker.

Sakura looked over the selection of bowling pins available to her. Dozens of multicolored balls lined the shelves. She chose the largest one available.

 _'Larger means it'll knock down more pins right?'_ Sakura asked her Inner self.

 _'I don't know...probably?'_ Her Inner self replied nervously.

Sakura gulped and picked up the heaviest one.

At first, Riker and LeForge snickered with one another on Sakura's amateurish choice. Until she picked it up like it was an apple thanks to her years of physical training.

"Still seems kinda light. Is there a heavier one?" Sakura asked, nearly flooring everyone there. Data was unaffected and Worf was pleasantly impressed by this woman's strength.

"No... 16lbs is the heaviest we have." Riker said in amazement.

"16lbs? We haven't used weights that light since we were 5." Naruto commented.

"What...?" Picard asked in amazement.

"Oh well. I guess it'll have to do." Sakura sighed as she lined herself up with the center pin.

Sakura took a quick breath, pulled her arm back, and threw the bowling ball like a shot put. Nailing the pins dead center in a perfect strike.

"Whoo-Hooo! I did it!" Sakura jumped for joy.

"Alright, Sakura-chan!" Naruto clapped in cheer.

"I believe I speak for everyone when I say, Holy shit." Data stated emotionlessly.

"Indeed." Picard said, his eyes still wide in shock.

"Ninjas - 1

Spacemen - 0"

Naruto stated.

"Ahem... Quite..." Picard said as the next name came up.

DATA

"I am in the same position as you, Sakura. I too possess great amounts of strength and have to be careful not to throw too hard." Data stated. He lined up his position and rolled the ball like a professional Bowler. He effortlessly got a strike.

"That's one strike for the triumphant android." Riker cheered on. The next name appeared.

WORF

Worf wasted no time and grabbed his ball. He shot it down the lane and got 8 pins. He grumbled in frustration, but was able to pick up the spare with his second shot.

"Nice save, Worf." Riker complimented. Then the next name came up.

NARTO

"The Hell, Riker? You misspelled my name." Naruto said.

"I did?" Riker asked.

"Yeah, it's N-A-R-U-T-O. Come on man."

"Too late to correct it now." Riker said.

"Whatever." Naruto grumbled and stood up to make his ball selection. He picked an orange ball that really was as light as Sakura said. He took his stance in front of the lane. Instead of just chucking it like Sakura did, he thought he'd try out what Data and Worf were doing.

He swung his arm back and let it fly right into the gutter.

"Gutter ball. Let's see if you can pick up the spare." Riker stated.

Naruto grumbled and tried again, this time managing to get two whole pins in.

"Damn." He said.

"Better luck next turn, Naruto." Picard said

"Yeah, I'll get it next round." He replied confidently.

Sadly, he didn't. The whole game, Naruto only knocked over either one or a few more pins per round and Sakura was tied with Data with almost 300 points. Worf with a healthy 278, Picard and Riker even with 243. Deana and Beverly with 198 and Geordi with 206. Naruto had a lousy 68 pins.

"This sucks!" Naruto grumbled.

"Don't be a spoiled sport, Naruto. You'll get the hang of it." Picard said.

The scoreboard flashed NARTO again, allowing the blond to take the field.

This time, Naruto was determined to get a strike. He didn't care what his end result would be, he just wanted a damn strike. Without focusing too much, he shot the ball forward and caused the pins to explode on impact.

The scoreboard flashed STRIKE!

"Uh... Strike to Naruto." Riker said in a state of shock. They had only seen Data do that but the reason for that was because he is an android. These two ninjas were only human, yet they were showing feats of strength almost unheard of.

"Shannaro!" Sakura shouted.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto translated.

"Extraordinary..." Picard gasped out. "I think there is far more to these ninjas than what meets the eye."

"Agreed... They are true warriors." Worf said with a faint smile on his face and a lot of pride.

 _'If they only knew the half of it.'_ Naruto and Sakura both thought.

"I think Naruto would benefit with one of your training programs, Worf." Riker pointed out.

"What chu talkin' 'bout, Riker?" Naruto asked, feeling on top of the spacecraft.

"It never hurts to have some fine tuning to sharpen a warrior's skills. And, to let out some aggression from time to time. My training programs can be quite... brutal." Worf explained.

"Can't be any worse than Bushy Brow Sensei's 'Youthful Training with Jazzercise.'" Naruto stated, causing him and Sakura to involuntarily shudder.

"I'm afraid I don't know this; Jazzercise you speak of." Worf stated.

"So much green spandex...yet so little..." Naruto whispered in horror.

"Wait a minute. Naruto, didn't you train in one of Worf's programs this morning?" Sakura pointed out.

"The one with the piss weak holograms? I think so." Naruto replied.

"You must not have gotten past the first level. I assume you tried the open forest one." Worf said with a smirk.

"No, I was in the battle arena one and was on level 18. It was far too easy." Naruto stated.

"You lie! I haven't even gotten to that level yet"

"I'm not lying. I was fighting two Klingons and...and I think there was this one alien that looked like a lion, and this really ugly one. I mean they were all ugly (no offense Worf) but this one was really ugly. And then this other one I think he was like a wolf man. A few good jabs and there were down. And the Klingon had this stupidly impractical bladed weapon. Like a curved staff and sword combo. Only it curved inward."

"A Bat'leth. I programed that myself with the fiercest warriors known to the Klingon empire. Yet you say you dealt with them like they were nothing?" Worf said in amazement.

"Didn't even have to use my shadow clones. Stupid computer would only go up to 30 opponents. I was going to have to tie one arm behind my back to get a decent challenge."

The warrior blood in Worf started boiling in anticipation and longing for battle. The thought of fighting a worthy opponent excited his Klingon primal instincts as he fell into a battle stance.

"I have waited a long time to find a worthy opponent to face. Come at me, like a true warrior..." Worf commanded.

"Woah man, take it easy. I don't want to fight you." Naruto raised his hands to try and calm the Klingon commander, yet his feet subconsciously took up a defensive stance.

"I'm afraid its unavoidable, Ensign." Picard stated as he rested his face on his palm. "Once a Klingon warrior challenges you to a battle, you must accept the challenge, lest you be labeled as a coward by said Klingon."

"I have too much respect for you to make me label you as a coward. Do not worry about hurting me. A true warrior worries not about pain." Worf stated.

"You're starting to remind me of Bushy Brows, Worf. Are you sure you want to do this?" Naruto asked, he wasn't certain how much he would have to hold back to avoid hurting Worf's body and his pride.

"A warrior is always sure when he picks an opponent."

Naruto sighed, looks like he wasn't getting out of this one.

"Alright, so do you want to do it here or on the holodeck or something?"

"Right here is good. Now, come at me." Worf said with determination.

That's when a loud cough interrupted their would-be quarrel. The two warriors turned to see that it came from none other than their captain. Who was looking just a little ticked off.

"As much as I'm sure we would all enjoy seeing the two of you fight in a friendly spar, there'll be no fighting on my ship outside of training rooms." Picard stated firmly.

The two warriors then lowered their guard.

"In that case, sir, why not have them duke it out on the holodeck. I'm sure we'd all enjoy a comparison between Lieutenant Worf and Ensign Uzumaki's combat abilities." Riker goaded the Captain. All around them, the commanding officers of the Enterprise vocalized their agreement.

"Very well. I suppose it would be amusing to watch Ensign Uzumaki get his behind handed to him in something other than bowling." Picard teased.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sakura inquired. Did the captain just imply that Worf was stronger than Naruto? He had better square up.

"Oh it is on…" Naruto smirked. Worf too became excited at the prospect of being able to test his strength against such a worry opponent.

As a group, the senior officers all headed towards the nearest holodeck. The lower ranking officers all cleared a path like they were on a war path. Once inside the holodeck, Picard had the room render an Olympic coliseum for Naruto and Worf to do battle in. Complete with an Emperor's booth for the Captain and his officers to be seated in.

The two warriors took to opposite sides of the arena. Each observing the other, probing for weaknesses.

"Begin!" Picard shouted.

Naruto dropped into his classic stance.

Worf got into a stance that Naruto wasn't familiar with. But it didn't matter.

Naruto charged at his opponent straight on, figuring Worf would be a head on fighter as well and wanted to give him as even a fight as possible.

Worf stood his ground as Naruto charged. With a fist drawn, Naruto sent a strike towards Worfs face, but the Klingon moved his fist and knocked his footing off balance. Grabbing the fist that Naruto had sent at him, he used Naruto's momentum to throw him on his back and on the floor.

"Your tactics are too predictable. Focus on your opponents moves as you make your own." Worf stated.

"You're a lot better than the Klingon hologram." Naruto smirked.

"You obviously didn't have their skill level set high enough." Worf smirked back.

"I'll keep that in mind. Round 2?" Naruto suggested, not wanting to have to resort to sneaky tactics.

"Yes, For I am not yet satisfied."

Naruto leapt to his feet and backed up to give some distance between him and Worf.

"Do you wanna go first this time or should I?"

"Allow me to test your defense. Q'pla!" Worf shouted as he charged at Naruto. Suspecting the ninja may counter his attack, he waited to see if he would make a move as he sent a chop towards Naruto's neck.

Naruto however kept a more relaxed stance that was full of openings. As soon as Worf was too far into his attack to stop himself, Naruto disappeared.

Before Worf could properly react, he felt a series of quick jabs targeted to the weak points of Worf's Klingon torso. Worf stumbled to his knees and Naruto appeared behind him. The tips of his fingers pressed against Worf's neck like a knife.

"What did you just do...?" Worf asked.

"Just a couple of punches to your natural weak points. My Ex taught me how to incorporate those into my fighting style." Naruto explained, not taking his fingertips off of Worf's neck as a sign of dominance, and that he was ready for any counter attack Worf could attempt.

"A pointed strike. However," Worf quickly and strongly grabbed the hand that was held at his throat and applied a pressure that actually was painful to Naruto as Worf moved the ninja's hand away from his neck. "You are still young and have a bit to learn about taking on a seasoned warrior." Worf slammed Naruto's hand to the ground and attempted to pin the ninja down.

Naruto instinctively curled up into a ball, tucking his legs in swiftly and aimed them at Worf's head. Like a spring loaded battering ram, Naruto kicked his left leg out, hitting Worf directly in the face with a knockout blow.

Worf was sent flying backwards until he landed flat on his back. However, to Naruto's surprise, the Klingon stood back up and wiped the pink colored blood from his mouth.

"A worthy opponent indeed." Worf gasped out. This was the best battle he's had in a long time. "You would make a very good Klingon."

"And you wouldn't make a bad ninja." Naruto replied with a smirk while massaging his hand.

In truth, this was shaping up to be the best spar he had had since squaring off against Rock Lee.

"Your knockout blow would have work against anyone else." Worf stated.

"A Klingon's outer skull is 2 inches thicker than a Human's. A simple kick to the head would do little if anything." Crusher informed.

"2 inches? Thank God, I was worried I put too much force into that kick." Naruto admitted.

Worf smirked. "I honestly almost didn't feel it."

"Okay, I think that's enough." Sakura stated. "This should stop before someone really gets hurt."

"Hold on a second Sakura." Naruto held up his hand while keeping his eyes glued on Worf.

"Didn't feel it? I knocked you flat on your ass, I think you will remember."

"You did, but a Klingon's body is made to take such physical abuse. We are warriors, first and for most." Worf explained.

"Then how did you guys acquire space traveling technology if you are all warriors?" Naruto inquired.

"...I do not remember." Worf said as he stood up straight. He seemed like he was done fighting.

"Well anyway, anytime you want a spar you just say the word." Naruto stated, holding out his hand for Worf to shake.

Worf took a minute to think about what Naruto said as he looked upon the hand that was being offered to him. He then smirked and shook Naruto's hand. He looked into Naruto's eyes and noticed that they were the eyes of someone who has seen many battles and almost as many deaths. These were the steeled and emotionless eyes of a warrior who would put his life on the line to protect the ones he cares most for.

"I would be honored to train with a warrior as strong as you."

"Same here." Naruto smiled.

 _'Are they done with their dong measuring contest?'_ Inner whined.

"Excellent, I declare this match, a draw!" Picard declared.

"What? Bullshit, no way that was a draw. If anything I wiped the floor with Worf and I didn't even have to use any ninjutsu." Naruto whined.

"A miscalculation on your part. Nevertheless, I still would have won." Worf bragged.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Naruto growled.

"Boys! Break it up!" Sakura said in a loud and sickly sweet tone as she cracked her knuckles. Both Worf and Naruto knew instinctively that it was time to fold or be broken.

"Yes, Ma'am…" Naruto hastily replied.

"Wuh-PSSSH!" Riker teased. Naruto just gave him a look.

"Alright, come on, I believe we have a follow-up game to complete." Picard mused. He then led his group of commanders back down to the bowling alley where both their lanes were still open.

"Well, now that's done with, lets split off into teams." Riker stated as he made use of the other lane. "Pick a team captain and choose who you want on your team. try to keep it balanced."

"I think Data should be a team captain." Troi stated, to which everyone nodded.

"I nominate Sakura-chan to be the other captain." Naruto stated next. Everyone else agreed. It made sense, who better to be the other captain to the other best player?

"I accept. And I choose Worf to start." Sakura said, knowing that Naruto would more than likely be chosen for the other team if things were to be balanced.

"What the hell, Sakura-chan?" Naruto protested.

"We need to keep the teams even. How is it even when you and I are on the same team?" Sakura pointed out.

"...I guess." He pouted.

"Oh, cheer up. Sakura said as she then leaned over to whisper into his ear. "Be good, and there is a nice, sexy surprise for you later..." Sakura whispered in a sultry tone.

That got Naruto to shut up. It took Sakura maybe 8 years, but she had finally mastered Naruto's mute button.

"I choose, commander Riker." Data said.

"Deana." Sakura said.

"Captain Picard." Data chose.

"Dr. Crusher." Sakura said.

"Naruto." Data chose.

"Geordi." Sakura said. The teams were chosen, now it was time to lay the smack down.

"Alright, the teams are chosen. The team with the most points wins. The losing team, the one with the least amount of points has to clean the port Nacelle tube." Riker said, smirking at the last part.

"We appear to be unevenly matched." Data stated.

"Not a problem." Naruto commented as he crossed his fingers in a familiar sign. Instantly a Shadow Clone poofed into existence.

"Now it's even."

"Smart thinking, Naruto." Picard said, which made Sakura nearly spit out her water she was sipping.

"First time I heard those words used in the same sentence." Sakura teased.

"Oh ha ha, Sakura-chan." Naruto fake pouted.

Sakura just stuck her tongue out at Naruto with one eye closed.

The two Narutos then split up to join their teammates. With Clone Naruto joining Sakura's team and the real Naruto staying on Data's team.

On Data's team, the guys began to form their strategy.

"Ok Naruto, so long as you keep doing what you did with that last strike last game, we'll be golden." Riker said.

"Yeah yeah, I got this." Naruto replied.

"Good. Remember, we're only as strong as our weakest link." Riker said.

"Fuck you, sir."

Over on Sakura's team, they were having their own team meeting.

"Ok girls and Georgi." Sakura began.

"Hey!" Clone Naruto shouted.

"And Clone Naruto." Sakura corrected herself. "By my math, if everyone on both sides is consistent with their scores for this game as they were for the last one, we will lose. However, if Clone Naruto can outscore his original, we could win."

All eyes then turned on the Shadow Clone. "Me?"

"Yes, all you need to do is what the original did in his last throw. Just toss it like I've been doing." Sakura coached.

"You know that's not how the game is actually played, right?" Troi interjected. Sakura however, ignored her.

"Alright team, hands in!" Sakura cheered. All her teammates put their hands in the center.

"Win on three! One! Two! Three!"

"WIN!" They cheered.

The computer decided the order of the players and the game began.

For the most part, it played out exactly as the last one had, except for one major difference.

Using Sakura's unorthodox bowling technique, Naruto score strike after strike. It was uncanny, he was a completely different player. The problem was that so was Naruto's Shadow Clone. For every strike the original made, the clone followed suit. The technique seemed so flawless that Worf actually tried it out himself. Unfortunately, his strength and coordination were not up to the standards of two seasoned Black Ops ninjas, and it cost him a spare. Evening up the scores between the two teams.

In the last handful of rounds, Dr. Crusher went on a roll, scoring a turkey (which as the crew explained to the shinobi, was three strikes in a row). That brought Sakura's team into the lead.

"I have analysed the collective scores. At our current score, our team cannot achieve victory if the Clone Naruto scores a perfect 300." Data stated.

"Damn it, we're going to have to clean the port Nacelle tube." Riker cursed.

"And whose fault is that?" Worf grumbled. His back already feeling sore from all the scrubbing they would have to do.

"The fault lies with Commander Riker. For he was the one who established the punishment to befall the losers of this friendly bowling game." Data stated.

"Thank you Data." Riker said sarcastically.

"You are welcome."

"Come on guys, we aren't licked yet." Naruto tried to encourage them.

"Oh yes we are. Unless…" Riker said, having just now realized something.

"Hey, Naruto clone!" Riker called out to the opposing team, whom were in the process of celebrating their early victory. The Naruto clone then turned around to greet his opponent.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you throw the match for us? I mean think about it. If your original loses, that means that you still have to clean the port tube!" Riker smirked.

"Oh come on, Riker! Don't be a sore loser!" Troi shouted back at him. "Just take your punishment like a man when we beat you!"

"All's fair in love and cleaning port tubes, my dear!" Riker flirted back.

"So what's it going to be, Naruto?"

The clone had to pause in thought for a second, but Sakura was having none of it.

"Hell no! Two can play at that game! Naruto, if your clone helps us win, I'll give you a special treat tonight!" She said with her hand tracing down her sides, informing Naruto of a much sweeter prize.

"Hey no fair! You can't use seduction in a wager!" Riker whined back.

"All's fair in love and cleaning port tubes, right?" Sakura shot Riker's comment right back at him.

"So what is it going to be, Ensign?" Picard spoke up, hoping to quell this ridiculous argument.

"I'll remind you that appeal to the guy code on this ship. Bros before hoes." Riker smirked.

Finally, the moment of truth arrived. The Naruto clone stood in front of the ball return and picked up his favorite orange 16-pound ball. The crew all sat on the edge of their seats as the Naruto clone walked up to the edge of the lane.

He cocked his arm back and chucked the ball towards the pins.

And missed!

"My team is victorious." Data declared as the rest of the guys cheered.

Clone Naruto then picked up the spare, but it was too late.

"Damn you Naruto! How dare you betray me!" Sakura halfheartedly shouted.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but I ain't gonna be cleaning any port tubes tonight." Naruto mused.

"That's not the only thing you won't be cleaning." Sakura spat back, prompting jeers from her team.

* * *

Once both teams had settled down, they met up at Ten Forward for a round of drinks.

While most of the long standing Star Fleet crew grouped up together at one table, the Leaf shinobi found themselves taking a private table.

"Are you really that upset with me?" Naruto asked.

"Hardly, but I gotta keep you on your toes, don't I?" Sakura smirked as she took a sip of her apple cider beer.

Naruto sighed in relief. He hated upsetting Sakura in any way. Didn't matter if they were together as friends or as lovers. He hated seeing Sakura upset.

"Geez cheer up, would you? It's not like I was gonna break up with you over a silly game...that I could totally beat you in one on one." She smirked.

"No, I didn't think you would. I just don't like seeing you upset, ya know? I never did..."

"Really? You sure seemed to enjoy getting on my nerves back in the day." Sakura pointed out as she took another sip.

"It wasn't true. I was always mad at myself for doing shit like that..."

"Hmmm, well if it makes you feel any better, I definitely regret the way I used to treat you. Except for the times you definitely deserved it because you were being a Baka."

"You two definitely have a long history, don't you?" Troi jumped in.

"Since we were kids. Have a seat." Sakura said as she motioned to an empty chair at their table.

"Don't mind if I do." Troi said as she scooted closer to Naruto just to gauge Sakura's reaction.

"You know... I only did that stuff so that you would notice me. But after a while, I started to realize how badly I had been treating not just you, but everyone doing those pranks and stuff. So, even though it's long overdue, I'm sorry, Sakura-chan..." Naruto stated.

"Seriously, Naruto, if anyone has to apologize it's me for the way I treated you all those years. In all honesty, I actually found your pranks really amusing." Sakura admitted.

"Wait, really?" Naruto said in amazement.

"Definitely. Your pranks always helped to mix things up in the academy. Even your smaller pranks like that eraser that fell on Kakashi-sensei's head had me cheering on the inside. I just wasn't vocal about it because I was trying to seem prim and proper for Sasuke." Sakura said, slightly embarrassed.

 _'And look how that turned out.'_ Inner commented.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but I'm curious. What is this academy you're both talking about?" Troi asked.

"The Leaf ninja academy." Naruto replied

"It was a kind of elementary school for ninjas. There we were trained in the basics of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu plus a few standard things like how to read, write, and do math. From the time we were 5 years old until we all graduated around our 12th birthday. Me and Naruto were both in the same class and we ended up being put on the same squad together after we graduated and became genin." Sakura elaborated.

"You mean; you get trained into military personnel from the age of 5?" Troi asked.

"Yes, is that not a normal thing?" Naruto asked.

"No." Troi stated in shock. "The humans of Earth used to do that centuries ago, but stopped after the 19th century."

"Well its common practice on our planet. Heck, it's almost universally regarded as a noble profession. Amongst the poorest civilians to the wealthiest of ninja clans. Plus, it's the closest thing to a formal education many of the ninja villages provide." Sakura explained.

"Well, starting in the early 20th century, it was common law in certain countries that no one below the age of 18 were allowed to become soldiers." Troi explained

"Well it's not like they send us out to war immediately following our graduation. New genin teams start off small by being assigned D-ranked missions that amount to little more than odd jobs around the village. After completing a certain number of those, they move up to C-ranked mission that are usually escorting some merchants across areas where bandits are a possibility. But because of our years of combat training in the academy, most run of the mill thugs don't stand a chance against a fully trained genin. Even then we have our Jounin squad leaders to teach us and pick up the slack." Naruto chimed in.

"I see." Troi said, still very curious.

"Well it's not like that a standard ninja is the only career path available. More than half of the students never graduate and even then many choose to hang up their headbands before they can even make chunin. Even still, their knowledge of chakra and their physical fitness become very useful in the work force. Some even go on to become doctors or nurses at the hospital. Or researchers at the R&D team. Some use their training to become craftsmen for ninja tools and the like. Plus, whatever other jobs are needed to keep a city running." Sakura explained further.

"I'm honestly surprised that Humans are able to use Chakra as well." Troi commented.

"Well it is a bit of a surprise to us too. Not all humans back on our planet can use chakra. Heck, our friend Rock Lee can't use any chakra what so ever and yet he still managed to become a Jounin by focusing on his taijutsu." Naruto said.

"Wait a minute. Are there others out there than can use Chakra?" Sakura asked.

"According to Admiral Janeway, a species known as the Undine can use a form of it, but it drains the life and physical energies of their victims." Troi stated.

"Interesting. We might have run into a few people like that back on our home world. They were few and far between though." Naruto said.

"Naruto, I think she is talking about Dark Chakra..." Sakura said in horror.

"What's the difference?" Troi asked.

"Dark chakra...? Oh shoot, that stuff? I had forgotten." Naruto admitted.

"How could you forget? You brought down a flying city last time you fought against it." Sakura pointed out.

"It just wasn't very memorable." Naruto held his hands up in surrender.

"Excuse me, what is dark chakra?" Troi asked again.

The two Shinobi looked embarrassed when they realized they had knocked Troi out of their conversation again.

"Sorry, dark chakra is chakra that draws its power from negative emotions. Well that's the simplest explanation." Sakura said.

"Oh my..." Troi gasped.

"Yeah, normally to use chakra it requires peace of mind and concentration. While negative emotions like rage and fear work against having a clear state of mind. So to use dark chakra you have to almost be completely focus on your fears and your hate. Which can be very self-destructive. Case in point is that dark chakra is considerably more raw and dangerous than regular chakra." Sakura explained.

"That explains why the Undine were so hostile to the Voyager crew when they entered fluidic space." Troi deduced.

"Yes, dark chakra tends to overpower your rational thought and make the user more hostile." Sakura said as if speaking from personal experience. Naruto meanwhile just sipped his rum and coke.

"There are many species who use some kind of energy to cause harm, but it's hard to say if it's actually Chakra. I heard the Devidians use a very raw form of energy to steal the souls of the living and entrap them in their dimension to feed on." Troi said, much to Naruto's sudden fear.

"D-devidians?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. They are beings of pure energy that appear in our dimension as ghosts." Troi explained

Naruto felt his stomach drop below the deck.

"G-g-ghosts?"

"In a way, yes. Wait... I sense a sudden increase of fear from you. You're afraid of ghosts?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?" Naruto asked defensively as he tensed up.

"Nothing. A lot of people fear the spirits of the deceased. But, most spirits don't interfere with he living."

"Easy for you to say. I had to live with a ghost in my apartment once. It sucked!"

"Why is that? I sense two... no... 3 spirits with you now." Troi said

"WHAA!" Naruto screamed as he jumped to his feet and started slapping himself like he had been swarmed by Shino's beetles.

"Relax Naruto! They're friendly!" Troi exclaimed to get Naruto to calm down.

"I don't care! Make them go away!" He shouted as Sakura buried her face in her hands to block out the scene Naruto was making.

"They're guardian spirits, Naruto!" Troi said, much to Naruto's curiosity.

"Come again?"

"They are spirits that watch over you, like a guardian angel of sorts. I sense two of them have been with you for a long time, whereas the third has been with you for a much shorter time..." Troi said as she began to communicate with the spirits. "The third one said to... finish his research? what does that mean?"

"Oh...well that's..." Naruto began, but caught himself. This was noticeable to both the women sitting at his table. Especially Sakura, who had a pretty good idea of who those guardian spirits might be.

"You don't have to tell me their identities." Troi raised up her hand. "They're a personal matter and I don't need to pry. Just know that they are there for you."

"N-no... It's fine..." Naruto said as he slowly sat back down.

"Are you sure?" Troi asked.

"Yes. The third one is definitely my master Pervy Sage."

"He means the Toad Sage, Jiraiya." Sakura clarified.

"Oh, I see." Troi said.

"Yeah, I just called him that because he was a huge pervert that always peeked on women bathing and tried to justify it as research for his smut novels the Make-Out series. He always forced me to proofread his writing and it was always so boring." Naruto reminisced fondly.

"And the other two?" Sakura asked.

"I am not getting much from them... But they seem to have been around Naruto since birth." Troi deuced.

"My parents then." Naruto said simply.

"That makes sense. It's actually pretty common for the spirits of deceased relatives to watch over their living family. They love you a great deal, you know."

"Yeah they do." Naruto smiled as he looked down at his drink, the ice nearly melted completely.

"They are all watching over you and Sakura." Troi said.

"Is that right?" Naruto mused. He sat there quiet for a moment, apparently deep in thought when finally, a thought occurred to him.

"Yo Guinan! Can I get six cups of sake over here?!"

"Sure thing, kid." Guinan replied.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked.

"You'll see." Naruto said as Guinan brought them the six tiny saucers and placed two in front of each occupant at the table. As she retreated back behind her counter, Naruto then rearranged three of the saucers over to where three other people might be seated if they were to squeeze in on their small table. One saucer directly in between Naruto and Troi and the other two in between Sakura and Troi.

The blond then raised his own glass in a silent toast and paused to invite Sakura and Troi to do the same.

Playing along, Sakura and Troi did the same.

"Here's to you: mom, dad, Pervy Sage." Naruto said before knocking back his sake in one gulp.

Sakura felt her heart melt as she knocked back her drink, Troi doing the same.

The three remaining saucers were left completely untouched.

"You two are very interesting individuals, you know that?" Troi said after a few moments of silence.

"How so?" Sakura asked.

"You're both so young and yet you've both lived such full lives. Many 20 year olds I've met, even in the harshest upbringings, don't have as colorful a backstory as either of you. I can just tell at a glance and I find that fascinating."

"I guess people our own age around here are just deprived of an excited life." Naruto commented.

"I don't envy them." Sakura added as he finished off the last of her beer, a toast to those innocent souls.

"Really? I kinda do." Naruto said.

"Why?" Sakura asked

"After such an exciting life, it must be nice to have a simple one." He replied.

"Take it from someone who once had a simple life, I'd never want to be so ignorant again." Sakura stated.

"Was it really that bad?" Naruto asked.

Sakura looked over at Naruto; her lover, her teammate. In his eyes she saw the lifetime of pain and loneliness he had to endure while she spent over a decade of her life knowing the basic comforts of the world. Not just Naruto, but Sasuke and even Kakashi-sensei who knew tragedy all their lives. Heck, even Sai and Captain Yamato knew of the cruelty of the world long before Sakura was ever made aware of it.

"Yes."

"What makes you say that?" Troi asked.

"Experience. It's just something I never want to be again." Sakura said simply.

"May I ask why? Most people would want to live like that." Troi asked.

"(Sigh) I did live like that. For the longest time I thought my greatest concerns were acing the next test, sticking up to some bullies, and crushing on some pretty boy. Then I got put on team 7 and I realized how fortunate I really am."

This got Naruto's attention.

But, Troi realized what Sakura was on about.

"You learned through experience that you lived the life you had because of the self-sacrifice and bravery of the Ninja's of your village, right?" Troi deduced.

"True, but somehow that doesn't make me feel less guilty." Sakura replied. _'How couldn't I? When my teammates include an orphan abused from birth, a boy who had his entire clan wiped out, a sensei who had all his loved ones killed off piece by piece, and two replacements both raised to be weapons; one as a genetic freak and the other as an emotionless robot.'_

Troi could tell that Sakura wasn't being completely honest, but it was enough to agree with Sakura on her point.

"That is usually how one gets into a military career." Troi stated.

"That's why I stayed, anyway." Sakura said.

The mood was somber, and would have continued as such if Riker hadn't decided to drop in.

"What's up? Planning on how to clean the port Nacelle tube?" Riker teased.

"Hello Riker." Troi replied dryly.

"Hey yourself." He replied. "Say, you two should join in on our poker night. We could always use a few fresh faces."

"Poker night, huh? When is it?" Naruto asked, grateful for a change of pace.

"Normally it would have been tonight, but we'll just have it tomorrow." Riker replied.

"Sounds good. I'm feeling tired tonight anyway." Naruto admitted.

"Oh? Mr. Endless stamina is tired?" Sakura joked.

"I'm allowed to be." Naruto defended with an overly exaggerated hand over his chest.

 _'Who says you're gonna sleep, Mr. Seal Clubber?'_ Sakura thought.

 _'I thought we were mad at him?'_ Inner Sakura thought.

 _'Just because we're mad at him doesn't mean I don't want to get any.'_

 _'You're the best outer self a mental projection could ask for.'_ Inner Sakura cried tears of joy.

"Yea, I think this is our last round for the night." Sakura agreed.

"Sounds good, where's the poker game by the way?" Naruto asked as he stood up from his table.

"Deck 4. If you ask Data, he'll lead you to it." Troi stated.

"Be prepared though. I'm unbeatable." Riker gloated.

Riker is very, very good at bluffing and has a near perfect poker face.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm unpredictable. Let's see whose reputation holds up." Naruto goaded.

"Do you even know how to play poker?" Riker teased.

"Heck yeah I do. I used to have poker night with the guys once a week back in the Leaf. I even beat Shikamaru a couple of times and he's the smartest I guy I know." Naruto bragged.

"He's not lying. The first time he beat Shikamaru, we thought he cheated." Sakura confirmed. "That was... When was that? I can't remember."

"That was back on that battleship, the HMS Typhon. When we were helping those Mist ninjas to root out that huge pirate gang that had taken over the archipelago. We were left on standby below deck for a week and I finally nailed that genius bastard with a straight flush." Naruto reminisced.

"Oh that's right! Damn, that was a time and a half ago." Sakura said.

"Huh... that ship name sounds familiar." Riker commented.

"Damn right it was. I still had my bandages on back then. I remember you had to keep changing them every day because of all the ocean spray." Naruto added.

"Yea, don't remind me. If you just wrapped the damn thing in a glove like I told you, I wouldn't have had to keep changing it." Sakura scolded.

"Well to be perfectly honest. By the fifth time you did it I was just purposely getting it wet because I liked the feeling of you wrapping my arm." Naruto said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Kurama must have been acting lazy again because Naruto was definitely feeling buzzed.

Sakura blushed. "Well, I wouldn't have cared about that now, but then it wasn't exactly appropriate."

"Maybe, but you hadn't started to officially date Sasuke yet and Hinata and I wouldn't get together for at least 6 more months."

"Oh... Yea, true..."

"But yeah, I guess I was just desperate cause I thought that it would the last chance I'd get to hang out with you like we used to before Sasuke would come back and take you on that date he promised you..."

Now Sakura felt bad. Once again, Naruto had reached out to her for affection and she completely ignored him and pushed him away, all for someone she would later regret being with.

"I'm sorry..." Sakura said sadly.

Naruto was shocked, terrified even that he had made Sakura-chan feel.

"No no, Sakura-chan, don't feel bad. I was just being selfish at the time. I told myself long ago that no matter who you chose I would be happy because you would be happy. But I guess saying is a lot easier than doing..." Naruto tried to laugh it off.

"It doesn't matter now." Sakura said as she looked up at Naruto and smiled. "You've gotten what you always wanted now. You have me and I don't see myself leaving you anytime soon."

"What about you, Sakura-chan? Are you happy? Are you getting what you want?" Naruto asked.

"I told you this morning. I'm the happiest I have been in a very long time."

"Yeah but...if things could be different - with Sasuke I mean...would you be..." Naruto stuttered but was immediately silenced when Sakura leaned forward to kiss him full on the mouth. Not a hot and intense kind of kiss like they would share whenever they got frisky, but a loving and tender kiss. The kind you only gave to those who mattered.

"Don't think about what could have been, focus on the here and now." Sakura said simply.

"Yes, Ma'am..." He replied simply. That last kiss had left him a little light headed.

"When I told you that I love you back in the Rock village, I wasn't completely lying, you know. I did love you, but not in the way I have recently." Sakura said.

"Really? How is the way you love me now different from the way you loved me back then?"

Riker and Troi meanwhile just sat on the other side of the table, nestling their drinks and feeling more and more like third wheels.

"The way I love you now is more than just us dating. They say that the best relationships are with your best friend. Back then, I loved you as a best friend that I would do anything for. Now, I love you as not only a lover, but as a missing piece to my heart that I didn't know I was missing. Do you understand?"

"I guess...yeah, I get you." Naruto decided.

 _'Save some for the wedding vows, girl.'_ Inner commented.

 _'Oh trust me. There is a lot more I'm going to- Wait a minute.'_ Sakura had to stop and think about that one. _'Wedding vows? isn't it a little early to think about that right now?'_

 _'Oh please. A little early... Says the girl in the relationship that started after the two of you had sex. It's not like you get to take things slow after that. You already took a dive and found the water to be just the right temperature, if you know what I mean.'_ Inner suggested by wiggling her eyebrows.

Sakura rolled her eyes mentally. _'...As much as I would love to see a ring on my finger from him, I want to wait on that. I'm not ready to settle down just yet.'_

 _'Oh come on, why wait? If it turns out we did jump the gun early, we could always divorce him and get half of that sweet Namikaze inheritance.'_ Inner Sakura stated with ryo signs flashing in her eyes.

 _'No. Absolutely not. I'm not a gold digger.'_

Inner then thought about one of those rap songs the two of them had accidently listened to on the computer playlist, but it was too easy...

Screw it, she would go for it.

 _'I'm just saying, he ain't no broke ninja.'_

 _'And after this mission, neither would I. Or did the 10 billion ryo worth of gold not sink in?'_

 _'Oh right...so that means we can only love Naruto for his character and his sex appeal and not for his money.'_

 _'And that's a problem why?'_

 _'I don't know. I think you've had one too many apple ciders and its effecting me.'_

 _'And I thought Naruto was a lightweight.'_

 _'Hey I'm you, remember? If anything, this just proves that you're a lightweight!'_ Inner argued back.

 _'I feel fine; I don't know about you.'_

Back on the physical plane, Riker and Troi were just awkwardly staring at Sakura who hadn't moved in the last minute.

"Does she always freeze up like this?" Riker whispered to Naruto.

"Sometimes. I have yet to figure out why."

 _ **'Maybe she's got a demon sealed inside her too and she's just never told us about it.'**_ Kurama thought.

 _ **'I would have sensed it a while ago.'**_

 _ **'I'm not so certain. There could be all kinds of demons out there and we wouldn't realize it. You didn't sense the so called Zero Tails back when you were fighting those Sky ninjas with their dark charka.'**_

 _'Point taken.'_

 _ **'So what if she did have a demon inside her? What're the odds that it would be a female demon?'**_

 _'I don't know.'_

 _ **'Oh come on, humor me. That would be perfect wouldn't it? You'd get your mate and I'd get my own and we'd compete against who could last the longest and it would be me.'**_

 _'Oh for crying out loud... Really...? Listen fuzz butt, I'm tired and I just want to sleep right now.'_

"Aaaand we've lost the blond too." Riker said to Troi.

"No, I'm still here. I'm just thinking about things is all." Naruto commented.

"So yeah, the point is that I love you, Baka." Sakura said.

"There you are..." Naruto said softly. "You went blank on me for a minute."

"Oh shit, I did?"

"Yea, but only for a minute. You've been doing that a lot in the past and again recently. Why is that?"

"Oh...no reason..." Sakura said simply, hoping someone would change the subject.

"There must be a reason for it. You can tell me later if you don't want to say it here, but if it's something serious, then I need to know. Otherwise, how can I help out my favorite Cherry Blossom?" Naruto smiled.

"Oh alright...it's not anything dangerous, but I can tell you later when we're alone."

"Right, I think we're both done for the night anyway." Naruto said as he once again stood up to leave.

"Yeah, I think that sounds like a good idea." Sakura admitted.

Hand in hand, Sakura and Naruto left Ten Forward and returned to their room.

"What just happened?" Riker asked Troi in confusion.

Troi held up a dismissive hand. "They're young and in love. Let them be. We weren't any different at their age, were we?"

Riker sighed. "No, we were just like them."

* * *

Back in the TenChi duo's quarters, Naruto help Sakura remove her jump suit and help get her settled in for the night. Shortly after releasing Kurama so he could get ready for bed as well.

 **"Try not to be too loud tonight. I would like so sleep."** Kurama stated.

"You can take my room. I don't think I'll be using it anymore." Naruto said with a yawn.

 **"Alright, just don't come crying to me when you inevitably screw something up and end up on the couch."** Kurama snickered.

"Even if he does, I wouldn't make him do that. I sleep better in his arms than I have in a long time." Sakura said fondly.

 **"Should I be marking those words? I feel like I should."** Kurama asked.

"Do what you want, makes no difference to me." Sakura commented as she put on her robe.

Naruto was left to admire the subtle beauty of seeing the slight curve of Sakura's bottom sticking out from beneath her robe. Like seeing a single gold doubloon sticking out from a shining treasure.

Sakura caught onto what Naruto was doing and grinned. "You'll get it later, but we have something to talk about."

"Can't we just skip ahead and say we did?" Naruto begged like a dog wanting his meat.

"You're the one who asked me to tell you."

"Yeah, but then you put on that robe and my priorities changed." Naruto admitted.

"You can be patient for a few minutes." Sakura stated. "If we're going to make this work, we need to be honest with each other."

"Oh alright." Naruto sighed. He sat up straight and forced himself to pay attention.

Sakura took a seat on the couch and made herself comfortable by leaning against Naruto.

"You are the first person I have told this to, so please don't judge me."

"Of course, Sakura-chan. You can tell me anything."

Sakura sighed as she tried to choose her words really carefully. "For the longest time, I have had what I would call my Inner self speaking to me..." Sakura started hesitantly.

Naruto raised a quizzical eyebrow. "An inner self?" He asked, inviting her to elaborate.

"We would converse over certain things, mostly about topics in which I was not being honest with myself. You could call her a voice of reason, I suppose. But as I grew older, she became to be more...um...perverted than Jiraiya at times. It's almost like I'm a Jinchuriki host to her, but unlike Kurama, she doesn't have any powers to share with me."

"So like a split personality? Except you can talk with her whenever you want?"

"Right, that's it almost exactly. She is the blunter and more honest side of me. When I freeze up like I did earlier, that was me talking to her about some things."

"What about?" Naruto asked, a look of curiosity on his face.

 _'Shit, how do I tell him that one...'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Lie to his face and rub your butt along his crotch. That always works.'_ Inner suggested.

 _'No... That to him would be dodging the subject and would know that I was hiding something for sure. He may be an idiot at times, but he catches onto shit quick.'_

"Are you talking to her now?" Naruto asked as he saw Sakura freeze up. The only response he got was a nod.

"Well what are you two talking about? Or is it personal?"

"It's a little bit on the personal side, Naruto. Something I don't quite feel comfortable sharing with you just yet."

"Well then don't worry about it. I think we're allowed to keep a few secrets from one another, right?" Naruto asked, wanting to set the boundaries now before he regretted them later.

"For now, yes..." Sakura agreed. "Anyway. From the start she had been pushing me to act like I should have. Laughing at your jokes and pranks being the top ones."

"Wow, really? She sounds like a really fun girl." Naruto smiled.

 _'I love this man...'_ Sakura and Inner said at the same time.

 _'Hey, I saw him first, bitch.'_ Inner spat at her outer self.

 _'We can both have him, remember? Now hush up or you won't get the surprise I have planned.'_

"At times she can be. But other times... She can be a pain in my ass." Sakura commented.

 _'Fuck you, you love me.'_

"Oh trust me, I know exactly how that feels." Naruto commented.

 _ **"Fuck you, you love me!"**_ Kurama shouted from the other room.

Sakura laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"It's funny, because my inner said the same thing just now."

 **"I like her already!"** Kurama called out.

"Well there you have it. Both of our annoying voices inside our heads love each other." Naruto said.

"Yea, but I don't know if I can bring her out the same way you release Kurama." Sakura commented.

"That's a shame. I would love to meet both sides of you in person. That way I could get to know all of you, Sakura-chan."

 **"Shadow clone!"** Kurama called.

"Yes Kurama, that is a jutsu I can do!" Naruto called back.

That was when Sakura had an idea. "No, I think I know what he's getting at."

"I do too, I was just messing with him." Naruto admitted.

"And now I'm the Baka." Sakura giggled.

"How's it feel?" Naruto teased.

"Shut up." Sakura said as she playfully slapped Naruto's chest.

 _'Well, Inner. What say you? Wanna give it a shot?'_ Sakura offered.

 _'Hell yeah! Just don't complain when he ends up liking me best.'_ Inner smirked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and summoned a clone. After about a second, the clone froze up as Inner took control.

The clone then took on a few subtle character traits. Her pink hair became darker, her eyes became brighter, and her curves became...well, more noticeable.

Eventually, her hair become almost completely red and that was when she smirked.

"About fucking time you let me out." Inner said.

"Holy shit! You were right!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Did you think I was pulling your leg or something?" Sakura commented.

"I don't know, maybe? I definitely didn't expect the change to be so...dramatic." Naruto said as he looked down at Inner's hourglass figure and blood red hair.

"Hey, if ya like what ya see, I can show you more..." Inner said in a sultry tone.

It was then that Kurama came out to see what all the commotion was about and his eyes were glued to the third figure in the room.

 **"Damn..."**

"Oh hey, Kurama-chama! How ya been?" Inner waved to Kurama like he was a long lost friend.

 **"I've been imprisoned in this idiot, his mother and grandmother for a grand total of over a hundred years and I'm finally able to taste freedom. I'm doing great honestly."**

"Wow, sounds like you need some stress relief." Inner mused as she walked up towards Kurama and softly petted him on the snout.

"What if I helped you relieve some of that tension?" She whispered into his ear.

"Inner..." Sakura groaned.

 **"I... uh..."** Kurama was at a loss for words.

"Now here me out, Me. This might actually be the best possible set up. You get Naruto-kun and I get Kurama for the night. Think about it, he's a mass of conscience chakra. I'm a mass of conscience chakra. We're practically made for each other." Inner said as she hugged Kurama's furry neck.

"I don't think-"

"I think that's fine." Naruto said, much to Sakura's shock.

"What?" Sakura asked as she sat up.

"Well, think about it. Before last night, neither have us had gotten any in months. Poor Kurama hasn't had any in over a century." Naruto clarified.

"You do realize that when my clone disperses, I retain all of the memories."

"Not necessarily. All the memories I have while in this clone body I will retain. So you won't actually remember them, you'll just have them stuffed in the back of your mind where I can replay them at my leisure." Inner smirked.

"That's worse because you would gloat about it to me."

"I'd gloat about it if you were the one actually doing the deed, regardless."

"Whatever..." Sakura sighed. "Naruto, are you really okay with this?"

"Why are you asking me? It's Kurama who you should be asking."

 **"Well...I mean...I..."** Kurama stuttered as Inner traced circles in his chest fur.

 _'Just do it man... You deserve it after being cooped up for so long.'_ Naruto said into Kurama's mind.

"Come on Me, don't tear us apart before we ever have the chance to love." Inner swooned dramatically.

 _ **'I don't know, Kit. This feels really sudden. I know I talk a big game, but it's not like there are any other demon foxes out there, ya know?'**_

 _'Well, hey. I'm okay with it, Inner is okay with it, and I'm sure Sakura-chan would be okay with it so long as you agree.'_

 _ **'Fuck it! I'm going for it!'**_ Kurama declared.

 _'Yea, get you some!'_ Naruto cheered.

 **"I'm fine with it, Sakura."** Kurama said firmly.

Sakura widened her eyes, but then shrugged. "Alright. Just so you know, she's kinky as fuck."

 **"Just the way I like them..."** Kurama fibbed, not know what the hell he liked.

"Alright!" Inner cheered as she pumped up the sky.

"And since we're both made of chakra, we have no standard form. Soooo..." Inner held her hands in a tiger seal and transformed into a pink furred nine tailed fox.

"We can do it however we please." Inner smirked as she walked slowly towards the other bedroom on all fours. One of her soft fluffy tails being dragged agonizingly slow across Kurama's face to let him know to keep his eyes on the prize. Fox Inner then slipped into the bedroom with only a single tail left visible in the doorway. The same tail that had groped Kurama's whiskers was now beckoning for him to come inside.

Kurama turned back to Naruto and Sakura. **"I can't thank you two enough for this."**

"Think nothing of it, Kurama. You deserve it." Sakura smiled. "Now go in there and have fun and don't keep her waiting."

Kurama quickly scurried into the bedroom but slowed down to try to walk in all cool like. When the door shut behind him and both Naruto and Sakura could swear that Kurama didn't close it.

"Well, since they're having fun... I'm flowing like a river right now... You know what to do..." Sakura whispered into Naruto's ear.

"Way ahead of you." Naruto replied as he stripped off his jacket and lifted Sakura up like a princess to carry her into her room.


	7. Chapter 7: Greenhouse

The morning came far too soon to everyone's liking. Kurama and Inner, who both remained in their demon fox form, slowly arose from their slumber while Sakura had woken up in the strong, protecting arms of Naruto. Naruto had long since woken up, but he knew Sakura would want a little more time so she could wake up right.

Sakura opened one eye and turned her head around to see Naruto's smiling face.

"Morning my Cherry Blossom..." He said softly.

"*yawn*... Good morning, my Sunshine..." Sakura said softly.

"Ready to start the day?" Naruto asked.

"Not really... I just want to stay in bed today with you..."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we have another day off." Naruto said happily.

"Mhmmm..." Sakura hummed happily as she snuggled into Naruto's chest.

 _'You awake, fuzzy?'_ Naruto said mentally to Kurama.

 _ **'Just woke up.'**_ Kurama said in a cheery tone.

 _'Could you bring Sakura-chan and I some breakfast?'_

 _ **'Sure... What do you want?'**_

 _'Two plates of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon.'_

 _ **'Coming right up.'**_

Within a minute, a red haired man walked into Naruto and Sakura's room carrying two plates of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. Upon closer inspection, Naruto could see that man bore a striking resemblance to him, all be it with redder hair, Fox eyes, and thicker whisker marks on his cheeks. He looked like Naruto when he was under the influence of the Kyuubi's rage.

"Thanks man. What's up with the look?" Naruto asked, much to Sakura's curiosity. She turned her head to look at the man before her.

 **"Oh this? Turns out being a fox limits your options and there is only so many times you can try foxy style. So we both tried out our human forms and this is what I choose."** Kurama explained.

"Not bad..." Sakura commented as she looked upon the bare form of Kurama's human form. Then the smell of breakfast permeated her nose. "Foooooood..." Sakura moaned.

 **"Geez, how funny. Your outer self is hungry and your inner self is thirsty."** Kurama smirked.

"I warned you, Kurama." Sakura said as she sat up to take the plate of food being offered to her, her bare chest being exposed. "Did you two have fun last night?"

 **"Fun...?"** Kurama said as he reminisced about being slammed into the head board repeatedly while being taken reverse cowgirl style. **"...yes."**

"Fun is an understatement." Inner said as she rounded the corner, just as bear as Kurama. "It was a night he won't soon forget." She ended her sentence with quick swat on Kurama's behind.

"Well, I'm glad to see you two had a memorable night." Sakura said as she started to eat as Naruto took his plate.

"Yup, and it's not going to happen again anytime soon." Inner smirked.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

"Well unlike you and hubby over there, the two of us know about restraint. I can't stay in this form all the time and Mr. Fluffles's dick might break if we do this all the time. So I think I'll just pop back in whenever I feel like it for another ride." Inner winked at Kurama.

"Oh... Okay, well if that's how you want it." Sakura said.

 **"It is. I've gotten my fun and the wait will make the next one all the more worth it."** Kurama said smirking at Inner.

"Alright then." Sakura said before returning to her meal.

Inner then kissed Kurama on the cheek before dissipating into smoke.

 _'And now I get to brag to you about how awesome Kurama was last night.'_ Inner smirked.

 _'Later, I'm eating.'_ Sakura replied.

Meanwhile Kurama also returned to within Naruto's seal.

"You know, Naruto. I think they are right about that." Sakura said as she downed her medication. "Normally I wouldn't agree, but they're right. We need to limit our sex a little bit."

"You think so?" Naruto asked a bit worried. He partially agreed with Sakura, but at the same time he didn't want to limit the amount of sex he was getting.

"As much as I don't want to, it will eventually stop being special to us. So, I'm thinking a couple times a week. Plus, with this new medication Dr. Crusher gave me, I'll be a lot less horny." Sakura added.

"Why are you taking that?" Naruto asked.

"Reasons." Sakura said simply as she returned to her breakfast.

Naruto shrugged and dug into his own breakfast. Everything was as delicious as ever.

 _'So you're not going to tell him?'_ Inner asked.

 _'Not at the moment. He knows about you and that's enough for now.'_ Sakura stated.

 _'Still, knowing about "that" seems more important than him knowing about me.'_

 _'Maybe it is, but it's not as much of an issue now with this medication... I hope.'_

 _'Well in the end, I got laid, and I think we can agree that's all that really matters.'_ Inner nodded to herself.

 _'If you said so...'_

 _'I know so. Speaking of, how did you Two fair last night?'_ Inner asked as she imagined herself up a coffee shop table and some tea.

 _'You're really gonna have me do this, now?'_

 _'Hey, I brought out the cafe table didn't I?'_

Sakura rolled her eyes. _'Fine... But let me tell Naruto about this so he doesn't freak out.'_

 _'That you're gossiping with yourself?'_

"Naruto, I'm going to be having a conversation with Inner for a while." Sakura stated.

"Ok!" He called back, too preoccupied by his pancakes to care.

"Were you listening?" Sakura asked.

"About what?" He replied.

"Oh for fucks sake... I just said that I'm going to be having a conversation with Inner for a while." Sakura deadpanned.

"Oh that? Yeah go right ahead. I don't see why you need to tell me though."

"So you don't freak out when you see me staring off into space."

"Ooooohhh, right..." Naruto deadpanned.

"Idiot..." Sakura commented before going back into her mindscape. _'Alright, let's get this over with...'_

As Sakura conversed with her Inner self, Naruto was also having a similar conversation with Kurama.

 _ **'...and right after I thought she was finished; she licks my asshole.'**_ The demon fox bragged.

 _'Why the hell would she do that?'_

 _ **'Damned if I know, it felt really good though. I don't know what kind of kinky girlfriend you've gotten yourself into, buts she's got some crazy thoughts in the back of her mind. And I didn't even tell you about what she did with the bottle of syrup.'**_

 _'I don't think I wanna know anymore... I'm scarred enough as it is.'_

 ** _'It's better that way. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise if Sakura ever tries it out.'_** Kurama smirked as he thought fondly of last night.

 _'Oh god help me...'_ Naruto thought in fear.

Back in Sakura's mindscape.

 _'EEEEW! Of all things, you licked his ass?!'_ Sakura exclaimed in disgust.

 _'Hey, I had him wipe. Plus, there is just something so fun about doing something so wrong, you know?'_

Sakura just received a nod from Inner who had a shit eating grin.

 _'I don't know what's worse. That, or having him fuck you with a bottle of syrup and then soak you in it...'_

 _'And then having him lick it up afterwards. A man's got to finish what's on his plate.'_ Inner added.

Sakura just shook her head. _'I'm kinky, but that's going waaaay too far.'_

 _'Oh please, you keep forgetting that I'm you. I am as kinky as you get. I am your line and your limits. So I'll tell you what's going way too far.'_

 _'I don't care what you say, I'm not about to do any of that... Well... The part about the whipped cream sounded kinda fun.'_

 _'Fine. I'll just write that down in the side of your head next to all the other things you said you'd never do.'_ Inner said as she leaned over to the nearest wall with a felt tip marker.

 _'Hmmm...should I place it next to be friends with Ino again...or ever let Sasuke go...or date Naruto...or fuck Naruto...or make love to Naruto...'_

 _'Oh zip it...'_

 _'Teehee, but yeah, definitely tryout the whipped cream. Much easier to clean up than the syrup. I found that out for you beforehand, you're welcome.'_

 _'I wasn't going to try it anyway. Naruto doesn't really have much of a sweet tooth.'_

 _'Use ramen then.'_

Sakura had pondered that one. Knowing how much Naruto loves ramen, that would be a very interesting idea.

 _'That's not a bad idea, honestly.'_

 _'Just be sure to make him work for that one.'_

 _'Well, duh.'_

While Sakura was trading back and forth with her Inner self on what to make Naruto do, Naruto had just finished up his breakfast. _'I'm bored.'_

That was when he noticed Sakura getting out of bed to grab a fresh set of clothes.

"I'm gonna shower. You joining me?" Sakura asked as her bare ass swished as she walked to the bathroom.

She turned around and saw that somehow, Naruto had managed to run in front of her and was already stripped down to his birthday suit.

"And no, before you ask, no quickies this time." Sakura stated firmly.

"Oh come on! I'm already at half mast, what am I supposed to do about this?" He then gestured towards his manhood trying to say hello.

"What did we just talk about limiting our sex? If we keep going at it like we have been, it will be boring to us." Sakura reminded him.

"Oh come on, pleeeeeeeease?" He begged, his hands clapped together in prayer.

Sakura slowly rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "...Fine... But after today, you're cut off for a few days. Understood?"

"Yatta!" He shouted, pumping his fist into the air.

"Well? Do you understand?"

"I do I do. Last handy for a few days, got it." He said excitedly.

"Alright then." Sakura said as she set hers and Naruto's clothes on the bathroom sink and made her way into the shower stall, making sure that every step she took was agonizingly slow for Naruto.

Unfortunately, and Naruto still regretted it even after nearly a week of using it, the sonic shower wasn't quite as he'd imagined it. There was absolutely no water involved. So when Sakura turned the handles in the shower, the only thing that came out of the nozzle was sonic vibrations. They were supposed to be more effective than traditional soap and water, but personally, Naruto believed their fatal flaw was that they removed one of the greatest components of shower sex. The water cascading down his lover's every curve. Not that it wasn't still a treat to see Sakura standing naked and rubbing her every inch...just...what was he think about?

"Why are you just standing there...?" Sakura said in a sultry tone.

"Just taking in the view." He said dumbly.

"Well, taking in the view is one thing. Come on in, will ya?"

"Yes, Ma'am." He said as he gleefully stepped into the shower.

"Wash my back would you?" Sakura asked.

Naruto did just that as he messaged Sakura's back and shoulders with a special type of cleansing powder that works in the sonic vibrations.

 _'Mmmm, that feels good.'_ Sakura thought. All her sweat and kinks just melting away.

"So Naruto, what do you want to do today?" She asked.

"I dunno. What would you suggest?" He replied.

"I don't know, what's some place we haven't visited yet?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to check out the battle bridge."

"The battle bridge? Nah, something else." Sakura shut him down.

Naruto was taken back. _'So this is what it's like to be denied? It's frustrating. Yet somehow I missed this.'_

"Ok, so what do you want to do?"

"Actually I want to visit the medical science lab."

"Ok? Maybe we can check out the battle bridge afterwards."

"I suppose. And the arboretum."

"The arboretum? What's that again?"

"It's a Hydroponic, or a botanical garden, really."

"A garden huh? I'd actually like to go and see that. We should do it first." Naruto suggested as began massaging Sakura's lower back.

"OH... Yes, right there... That spot is tender..." Sakura moaned as Naruto found a tense knot in her back. "Yea I suppose we could."

"So it's a date then." Naruto smiled at Sakura's cute reactions to his touch.

"Sounds good to me..." Sakura grunted. The she felt a crack in her back from Naruto's message and immediately felt relief. "Aaaaahhh... That's much better."

"You like that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto smirked.

"That's been a tender spot for a while now..."

"Glad I could help." Naruto whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine and giving Sakura some ideas.

"That reminds me..." She said as reached behind her to grasp Naruto's member firmly with her slender hands.

Sakura bent over and started stroking Naruto's member. "Get your enjoyment out of this while you can. It's the only bit of action we're seeing for a while."

"Ooooohhh, ummmm..." He said, reveling in Sakura's magic touch.

"You know... You never ate me out last night. So, you owe me big buster." Sakura smirked as she slowed her strokes.

"Oh god...I'll do whatever you want. Just don't stop..." He begged, his breath hitched. The pressure growing within him with each tug. So much that he didn't even realize that he was humping into Sakura's hand.

"You fucking better." Sakura said as she started stroking faster.

Naruto started gasping, he felt soooo good and Sakura's hands felt so nice. His breathing grew heavier and Sakura felt his dick pulse in her hands. She knew he would be cumming soon.

Wanting to get started with their day, Sakura traced her free hand down Naruto's shaft and cupped his balls. Even after all the love making they had been having ever since getting together, his sack always managed to refill itself to be nice and plump. Ready for action at a moment's notice.

Finally, the sensations were too much and Naruto let loose his load. Sakura skillfully dodged out of the way, even at point blank range, thanks to her master's training.

"Damn... Warn a girl next time." Sakura said.

Naruto didn't answer as he had yet to catch his breath. His penis grew flaccid in Sakura's hand.

 _'Sage of Six Paths...'_ He thought.

"What the fuck, Naruto? Just one go and you're soft already?" Sakura said with an irritated tone.

"I ah...don't know what happened? This never happens to me." Naruto blushed. Sakura just rolled her eyes. At least this happened after they decided to go on a sex break.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up and get going on our date." Sakura said as she finished washing her hands that were once soaked in precum.

"But... You didn't get off." Naruto pointed out.

"True, but you can just make it up to me later." Sakura replied.

"I'd rather make it up now. I see how wet you are and I feel bad that I was the only one who got off."

"Naruto it's fine. For us girls it's all about the journey, not the destination." She replied trying to placate him.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, now put a nice shirt on as I watch you." She smirked.

"Um... okay..." Naruto said as he dug out a shirt from his dresser. A simple black shirt like he had worn back in the Leaf.

"No no no, I meant a nice shirt." Sakura said as she pulled out a thin green sweater that matched her eyes.

"Uh... I don't know if I brought any."

"Computer, create a dark blue suit jacket for Ensign Naruto. With matching pants." Sakura commanded.

The matter replicator in their bedroom hummed to life and said articles of clothing appeared.

"A suit? But, I hate suits..." Naruto pouted.

"Would you wear them for me?" Sakura asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

Naruto sighed. "Yes... I'd do anything for you and you know that."

"And I had the computer create those sexy undergarments you love so much, didn't I?" She pressed.

"Wait, you did? I thought you always had them."

"Naruto, why in the world would I bring sexy undergarments on a mission?"

"Point taken..."

"Good. Now shut up and put on this stylish outfit I picked out for you." Sakura gave an evil smile as she handed Naruto his casual suit.

"Uuhhh... S-sure..." Naruto stammered in fear.

Sakura patted him on the chest and skipped off to go put on the rest of her outfit.

 _'This woman is going to be the death of me...'_ Naruto thought in fear.

 _ **'Quiet, she can hear your thoughts.'**_ Kurama warned as Sakura turned around to stare at Naruto.

 _'H-how?!'_

 _ **'I don't know; I was just joking.'**_

 _'You dick...'_ Naruto grumbled as he started putting on his suit.

 _ **'Hey, if she does end up being your death, you'll die happy, won't you?'**_ Kurama added.

Naruto briefly looked over at Sakura who was putting on a pair of black nylon stockings.

 _'Oh definitely...'_ Naruto agreed.

Unbeknownst to either males, Sakura had not actually heard any of Naruto's thoughts, but her woman's intuition told her that Naruto was thinking something stupid and needed to be threatened. Just in case.

"Just a reminder, Naruto. Do anything stupid and I'll make your dry spell longer." Sakura said sternly.

Naruto gulped and nodded furiously. Much to Sakura's pleasure.

Naruto then finished putting on his form fitting jacket and slacks. Thanks to the computer it was tailor made and fit him perfectly. It was actually kind of comfortable.

"Wow, now that looks really good on you." Sakura commented.

"You think so?" Naruto asked as he twisted around so that Sakura could get a good look at his back.

"Oh, definitely." Sakura said as she adjusted her skirt. "How about me?" Sakura asked. She was dressed in a simple light green sweater, knee length skirt, black stockings that went up beyond her skirt, and to top it all off she wore her hair in a short ponytail as she had during medical emergencies.

She looked a sophisticated kind of gorgeous: a girl-next-door kind of look.

"W-well, are you just going to stare or what?" Sakura said, slightly nervous.

"You look great. No, amazing..." Naruto replied.

Sakura blushed and turned away in attempt to hide it in vain. "Oh... Come on, it's not that great."

"I beg to differ." He objected.

"Not nearly as good as yours... Maybe I should change it up..."

"No way! I love seeing this side of you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said quickly.

Sakura smiled. "Thank you. But you love seeing me no matter what I wear, or less than this even."

"Very true, but come on. We're still going to a green house, right?"

"True..." Sakura agreed. "Can't look all dolled up for just a simple trip to the hydroponics."

"So let's just go then. I actually do want to go see the different plants they have." Naruto said, starting to get impatient.

"Alright. Keep your pants on... For now, anyway." Sakura smirked.

Naruto smirked as the Tenchi duo left their quarters and entered the elevator hand in hand.

"Arboretum." Sakura commanded and the elevator began taking them to Deck 17.

"So Inner told me about some wild ideas she had last night." Sakura started, much to Naruto's fear. "Don't worry. I don't plan on doing 90% of what she told me. I assume Kurama told you the same things."

"More or less. Mostly he just told me how much of a Super Freak your inner self is, and that he'll be satisfied for a loooong time to come." Naruto said.

"What all did he say? I mean, Inner has told me a great deal... Much to my mental scarring."

"Nothing I'd repeat to you while you're dressed as sophisticated as that." Naruto said vaguely.

"Mmm... Fair enough." Sakura mused.

The doors opened to the ship's greenhouse and both Sakura and Naruto gasped.

"Woah, cool!" Sakura said in excitement.

"You said it, Sakura-chan." Naruto exclaimed.

Everywhere they looked was various pillars of vine fresh fruits and vegetables as well as glass cases that ran along the walls, spices and herbs. It was absolutely amazing to see the kind of plants that would grow on Element, but also different ones as well.

Naruto's eyes focused on the floor, where could be found row upon row of vibrantly beautiful flowers were in full bloom.

"This is gorgeous, just look at all of them." He said in awe.

"Look! Some of these flowers are the ones I use to make medicine!" Sakura exclaimed in joy. "The hypos are nice, but there is no substitute for home grown cures."

Then she got an eye full of all of the herbs that were present. "Holy shit... I could make home remedies forever..."

"You're not going to be making more of your soldier pills are you?" Naruto shuddered.

"No, I don't think I'm doing that again after the last time."

"Oh sweet baby Sage, thank you." He whispered to the heavens.

"I heard that. But you're right, they were nasty. If I make them again, they are going to be nutritious, but have better flavor."

"Or just start with them being edible..." Naruto said in a hushed tone.

"Oh, I didn't know we had visitors!" A voice near them called. It was a female with fairly long red hair, wearing a blue uniform. "Ensign Samantha McClain." She introduced. "But, civilians are not allowed here."

"Why not?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"Well, while we do grow food here, this is also a secured lab." She clarified.

"I'm Ensign Sakura Haruno and this is Ensign Naruto Uzumaki. We're new to the ship." Sakura explained.

"Oh that's right! You're the captain's new bodyguards." Sam deduced.

"That's right, although come to think of it we haven't been doing much body guarding since we got here." Naruto said.

"This is only our third day, Naruto." Sakura deadpanned.

"For reals?!" Naruto shouted.

"Yes. It was only yesterday that we got together after the whole Romulan fiasco. Actually, I'm wrong. It's been four." Sakura corrected herself.

"Holy smokes. I swear to god it has felt like months." Naruto said.

"Well, it hasn't"

"Crazy..." Naruto muttered.

"Ahem..." Sam cleared her throat in hopes to get the attention of the two ninja's.

"Oh I'm sorry! Didn't mean to leave you out." Sakura said in embarrassment.

"It's fine. Would you two like to take the tour?" Sam offered.

"We'd love to." Sakura replied as she took Naruto's hand, which he wasn't the least bit hesitant to give her.

"Well, this is the main growth chamber, were we grow various fruits and vegetables from both Earth and many over worlds. We also carry various spices and herbs that we mainly use for trade to other worlds. Some of the herbs we have her have various medicinal purposes where the worlds we trade them to make for any ailment they may have." Sam explained.

"Fascinating. Would it be possible for me to take some plants out of here to create my world's remedies?" Sakura asked, as she walked hand in hand with Naruto trailing a bit behind her to appreciate the flowers.

"I'd have to have it cleared with Dr. Crusher and Captain Picard first." Sam replied.

"Seems a pain, but I'll be sure to do just that."

"It is, but rules are rules." Sam said offhandedly.

"True..." Sakura replied.

"What about having some house plants?" Naruto asked.

"You can choose any of the plants we have here, so long as they are not ones we keep for trading." Sam said. "Just let me know what you're taking so I can long them."

"Aloe Vera?" Sakura asked.

"You're in luck. We have a surplus of that plant in stock." Same said gleefully.

"What about a yellow snout julip?" Naruto asked.

"That I don't know if we have. HEY THOMAS!" Sam called out.

"YEAH?!" He called back.

"DO WE HAVE YELLOW SNOUT JULIP HERE?!"

"NEVER HEARD OF IT!"

"Damn. It was one of my favorite flowers back in my window sill garden back home." Naruto snapped his fingers.

"We do have Venus Flytraps and Bonzai if you want some of them."

"Those would still be nice. Plus, some lavender? It would certainly make the place smell nicer and I'm certainly Sakura-chan would appreciate that." Naruto joked.

"Yup, we have that." Sam then pointed to an area. "Over there is what you want."

"Nice. What about Birds of Paradise?" Naruto asked, trying for another difficult one.

"I'm afraid that's another one we don't have." Came a male voice. Approaching them was an older man with brown and grey hair and noticeably visible age lines. "Lieutenant Commander Thomas Gabriel." He introduced.

"Ensign Naruto Uzumaki and Ensign Sakura Haruno." Naruto introduced them both and shook Thomas's hand, as did Sakura.

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Gabriel." Sakura greeted politely.

"Likewise, but please, call me Tom. Now as I was saying, Birds of Paradise hasn't been around in over a century. A blight diseased the plants and killed them off on Earth." Tom explained.

"You're kidding me. That's such a shame. I always loved their unique shape. It just looked so freaking cool." Naruto replied.

"I agree with you. I would love to find a living plant." Tom said fondly.

"Well, we have them on Element and they're everywhere." Sakura said.

"Ah, I was going to say that." Naruto pouted. "But yeah, I've got my own bush of them on the roof of my apartment."

"You're kidding me..." Tom breathed out in shock.

"He's not. I've seen them in my friend Ino's family's flower shop." Sakura said.

"This is extraordinary! We have got to make our way there to repopulate the species!" Tom exclaimed.

"Well we kind of were just there, so I doubt the Captain will have us swing by again for the sake of a plant." Naruto explained sadly.

"Damn..." Tom cursed.

"It's alright. It will still be there for many years to come I'm sure." Sakura assured.

"I feel you though, Tom. I'd be devastated if I came back home after five years and found the Birds of Paradise to be extinct." Naruto said.

"Just like the whales in the 23rd century. A lot of credit to Captain Kirk for finding a way to repopulate the species." Tom said.

"Really, how'd he do that?" Naruto asked.

"Dr. Crusher explained something about that yesterday. He went back in time to bring back a pair of whales to fend off an alien probe that was disrupting all electronic device in its range." Sakura explained.

"Correct. So, thanks to him, the humpback whale is slowly making a comeback." Tom confirmed.

"That...sounds incredibly cool." Naruto said in awe, his eyes sparkling like diamonds.

"Really? That sounds a little ridiculous to me." Sakura deadpanned.

"How so?" Tom asked.

"Oh come on: going back in time to revive an extinct species, because they and only they could somehow defend against an advanced alien probe. Meanwhile sitting on this marvel of modern science." Sakura explained like it was obvious. She might have lived her whole life in a world where people could walk on water and walls, breath fire, summon talking animals, control and bind others with shadows, teleport, and imprison demons the size of mountains into infants; but even she had a limit to how much ridiculousness she could be expected to take.

"You have to understand; this was over a hundred years ago. The probe was emitting a frequency that is only discernable to whales, more specifically the humpback whale. To us, it was dismissible high pitched noise, but if heard under water, it matched the calls of humpback whales and that is what it was trying to communicate with. Since the human race overhunted the whales to extinction, the probe constantly replayed its message until it was heard. Because of that, that frequency it emitted was enough to disable any ship or station in its range. Even today, with a ship as advanced as the Enterprise, it still wouldn't be able to withstand an EMP like that." Tom explained.

"So then what did the whales do to the probe after Kirk and his crew brought them back?"

"Simple; they responded to the message the probe had by using their own calls. What was said, we don't know. But whatever the whales did say, it was enough to drive the probe away."

"They never figured out who sent the probe or who built it? The whales just talked to the probes and they went away?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"The probe was of ancient origins. About 20 years ago, we were finally able to track down the probe back to its origins, only to learn that its species had been wiped out when their systems star went supernova." Tom explained.

"I see..." Sakura said, her skepticism now turning into curiosity. "And did you learn why the probes only responded to a whale's call? Surely they weren't made by an advanced species of whale." Sakura joked.

"To this day, we're still not sure. There wasn't much surviving of their race, save for some remains. They seemed to be humanoid, but that's all we could gather. We're still investigating it."

"Uh huh..." Sakura said, somewhat satisfied, yet she felt that the explanation had raised more questions than it answered.

"There is a theory that they might be a form of Xindi Aquatics that had actually sent the probe to the rest of their race, but mistakenly went to Earth." Sam added.

"And they spoke whale?" Naruto asked.

"They are of a water based species whose planet is made entirely of water. They do closely resemble that of some aquatic species on Earth." Tom included.

"So that just proves my initial assumption..." Sakura said with her hand on her chin.

"Perhaps, but when we confronted the Xindi Aquatics, they tried hard to deny it." Sam added.

"They may have sent it as an attack, but we have no proof of that. But as the past would have it, they were once our enemies. Not just the Aquatics, but the Xindi as a whole." Tom added.

"Wait, you didn't let me finish..." Sakura said in a tone that somehow reminded everyone of her boyfriend.

"My apologies." Tom said as he motioned for Sakura to continue.

"I was going to say that it proved my initial assumption. That this story was fishy..."

Sakura smirked like she just told the best joke in the world.

Tom wasn't very amused. "...Very amusing..." He deadpanned.

Naruto patted Sakura on the shoulder. "Maybe you should leave the bad puns to me, Sweetie."

Sakura blushed and held her head in shame.

"So about those potted plants we wanted to take home. Are there any others you'd like, my Cherry Blossom?" Naruto asked, trying to cheer his girlfriend up.

"Any you could turn into your herb remedies?" He whispered in her ear. He knew hearing about any kind of medicine should perk her up.

Sure enough, her eyes lit up and her embarrassment was quickly forgotten.

"Oh right. Yes, I would like to look through the herbs you have that I could take." Sakura beamed.

"Well, normally we don't allow that, but sure. Take what you want. We can grow more." Tom said.

Sakura then skipped down the rows like a kid in a candy store. Checking every plant and medicinal herb that caught her eye, inspecting their leaves and stems to find the healthiest plants, and pointing out which ones for Naruto to pick up for her. It was like she was Ino on a shopping spree and Naruto was Sai, dragged along as a pack mule. Thank God for his Shadow Clones and God bless the 2nd Hokage for inventing the Shadow Clone jutsu.

"Yes! Alright they have it!" Sakura exclaimed as she looked upon one of the herbs.

"Have what? What is it Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked while he and two other clones were up to their necks carrying plants.

Sakura held up a deep green rose. "This is the jaded rose. This is hard to find, even on our world. It is a crucial ingredient for chakra pills."

"No way, seriously?" Naruto exclaimed. What little he knew about chakra pills, he knew that they were extremely rare and just as expensive. While normal soldier pills were great for revitalizing your stamina and a bit of your chakra. Chakra pills were another thing all together. They only increased your chakra, and at an alarming rate. Naruto had heard stories about how his friend Choji had used them to beat that one fat bastard on the Sound Four way waaaay back in the day when they were trying to save Sasuke. They increased his chakra count my 100 fold if the rumors were to be believed. And Choji was never one to oversell his accomplishments as far as Naruto knew.

"Yes, seriously! I can't believe they have it here..." Sakura said in shock.

"Ah excuse me, but what's so great about the jade rose? Sure it looks pretty, but we've never been able figure out another use for it." Tom interjected.

"Like I said, it's a crucial ingredient in making chakra pills. Which work a lot like what you'd think of as food and energy pills, but instead of speeding up your metabolism, they speed up your chakra network. Allowing for average ninjas to perform amazing feats thanks to having more chakra than they would usually possess."

"And Chakra is what exactly?" Tom asked.

"The stuff we use to make all these cool techniques." Naruto pointed at his Shadow Clones as an example.

"Oh..." Tom said simply.

"It has medical uses on it as well, according to Dr. Crusher." Sam interjected.

"We got your medical uses right here." Naruto said as he directed everyone's attention towards Sakura who waved with her mystic palm technique.

"Interesting." Tom commented. "Hey... Uh... D-do you think you could help me with my left shoulder? It's been bothering me for a few weeks now. Old war injury."

"Sure no problem. Just take off your shirt to make it easier." Sakura said going in full doctor mode.

Tom obliged and removed his uniform jacket and his undershirt. What Sakura saw stunned her. All over his torso was various and old battle scars from what looked like he had gone through a meat grinder.

"So uh...which one was it again?" She asked.

"My left shoulder." He said. Sakura looked at his shoulder in question and noticed that it was once deformed.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"About 30 years ago, I was surrounded by Klingon's. Their blades may look odd, but they are sharp as hell. I took the brunt of a Klingon Bat'Leth to my shoulder and it nearly cut it off." Tom explained briefly.

"You must have been very brave." Sakura said as she warmed up her jutsu. A fairly obvious question, but one that the nurses back home loved to ask. You get a cute nurse or doctor calling you brave and it helps the male patients relax.

"Heh... No, I was stupid. I was young an arrogant and picked a fight with a group of Klingons that tried to flank my position, thinking I could take all of them on..."

"Sounds like some idiot I know." Sakura said.

"Right... I keep these scars as a reminder of when I nearly lost my life from being stupid."

"Too bad said idiot doesn't scar. Maybe the reminders would have him be more careful..." Sakura said absent-mindedly.

"Well, he's young. He still has time to learn." Tom stated.

"In our line of work, that might be less time than you'd think." Sakura said as she continued to massage her mystic palm technique into Tom's shoulder.

"Maybe..." Tom said.

After a few minutes, Sakura was finally done untangling the 30-year-old knot in Tom's back.

"Is that better?" Sakura asked.

Tom moved his arm around checking the full motion of his shoulder. Needless to say, he was beyond impressed.

"Batter than I had been in a long time honestly. Hasn't felt this good since before the injury." Tom said happily.

"You should teach all of our medical staff that." Sam said. "Imagine the good we could do."

"I am working on doing just that with Dr. Crusher, but since no one else knows how to use chakra I've basically been teaching her everything from the ground up." Sakura replied.

"All it takes is just one doctor to convince Starfleet that we have the potential to create a fleet of medical ships capable of tending to the needs of sick colonies." Tom said. "First it's one, then hundreds, then eventually, we could be one of the most advanced medical fleets in the galaxy."

"That would be something amazing you could do." Naruto said to Sakura. They both knew about how Tsunade had once all but founded the medical corps in Konoha after the 2nd Shinobi World War. And when she returned to the Leaf as the 5th Hokage she overhauled it again and eventually spread it amongst the Shinobi Alliance after the 4th War. Now Sakura could very well be on her way to spreading medical jutsu throughout the galaxy.

"Yeah... Wow. Imagine me, the one who could bring about a galaxy wide advance in medicine..." Sakura mused as she thought of the possibilities.

"If anyone could do it, I'd be you." Naruto said. Sure he was pouring in the flattery to score points with her, but he meant every word of it.

"You really think so?" Sakura asked as she turned to face Naruto, her eyes glittering off the overhead lights like polished diamonds.

"I know so." He said as his hair glowing like sunshine under the same lights.

Naruto then cupped Sakura's cheek, to which he leaned into.

"You've always had the ability to do great things, Sakura-chan. Now you get to prove it."

Sakura smiled. "Thank you, Naruto..."

"Ahem..." Tom coughed, to which Sam slapped him for interrupting such a romantic moment.

Sakura and Naruto didn't even notice Tom and continued to stare into each other's eyes as their faces grew closer to one another.

They could feel their breath on one another's lips. Smell their breakfast as well as each other's unique scent. It was so strangely perfect that Sakura closed her eyes in anticipation, awaiting Naruto to steal her lips.

"I love you..." Sakura whispered out, just before Naruto claimed her lips into a deep, passionate kiss.

Sam was welling up with joy at the sight of such a romantic moment. Tom cracked a smile. Oh how it reminded him of his younger days.

After one of the best minutes of Sakura and Naruto's life, Naruto finally broke the kiss. "I love you too."

Sakura gave a soft smile and rested her head into his chest, soothed by the melodic rhythm of his heartbeat.

While Naruto leaned his head against the crown of her head, inhaling her scent. The two fit together like a puzzle piece.

"Sam..." Tom whispered to the Ensign. "How about you put on some soft music for these two."

"Commander?" Sam whispered back in surprise.

"You're only young once, Ensign." He smirked.

Sam nodded and went over to a nearby computer panel and played some slow, soft dance music, loud enough to hear, but quiet enough to set the mood.

The two Shinobi overheard what the two onlookers were doing, but neither of them could break away from each other to care.

A soft melody began to play, something instrumental. The Tenchi duo began to sway back and forth to the music. Their bodies taken over by the whims of the stringed instruments. They made no exaggerated movements nor did they open their eyes. It was just the two of them now. Their noses filled with the scent of a garden of Eden, classical music filling their ears, and the warmth of their oldest friend and lover coiled in each other's embrace.

Sage knows how much time later, the two finally broke apart. They collected their flowers from Tom and Sam and promised to come visit them sometime in the future. They made their way back to their room and set up plants on every surface they weren't using. Within the hour, their quarts looked less like a fancy hotel and more like a home.

"That looks a lot better, don't you think?" Sakura asked

"Definitely, we finally get some damn color in this room. Just don't tell any of the guys that I said that." Naruto replied and he rearranged the begonias.

"Wow, never pegged you for a room décor perfectionist." Sakura teased.

"Well truth be told I've always had a thing for flowers." Naruto admitted.

"Really? Since when?" Sakura asked.

"Since I was back in the academy. The Third Hokage was getting sick of all my pranks so he thought that giving me a mundane hobby like flower watering would keep me occupied. Didn't work, but I did pick up watering plants as a sort of side hobby to pulling pranks."

"Really? I should have Ino get you a job when we get back home." Sakura joked.

"Nah, I think I'll be too busy spending all that gold the Captain promised us." Naruto smirked, the thought off all that money making him giddy.

Sakura meanwhile was being to remember something at the mention of her best friend.

 _'Ino...flowers...married...SAI!'_

"Naruto, I just remembered something! Sai's message. We haven't heard back from him."

"Oh shit, you're right! I forgot about that."

"Me too. With all the excitement going on I hadn't even thought about it." Sakura added.

"Give me a moment." Naruto then bit his thumb and flew through a set of hand signs before slamming his hand on the floor.

A cloud of smoke appeared and just as quickly vanished, leaving behind the elder toad sage Fukasaku.

"AND YOU CAN KEEP IT UP THERE!" He shouted at someone who wasn't there.

"Um... Fukasaku? Who are you yelling at?" Sakura asked.

"What?" He said, finally realizing what had happened. "Oh sorry, you caught me in the middle of a little marital dispute."

"Little?" Sakura asked. _'God, I hope Naruto and I don't turn out like that in 70 years_. _'_ She thought.

 _'Day 4 and you're already thinking 70 years down the line?'_ Inner teased.

 _'Hush.'_

"Yes little, Ms. Haruno. Now is there something you needed?" He asked.

"Um... Yea we wanted to know about Sai's response." Sakura said.

"Oh that, yes I delivered the message. Your friend Sai was understanding of course. Kinda hard to get a read on his reaction though, he's an odd one." Fukasaku muttered the last part to himself.

"Yea, no kidding." Sakura muttered.

"What did he say exactly though?" Naruto asked, a little eager.

"Ah yes, he said, if I'm remembering this right, "tell Hag and Dickless if they think Ino or myself would have our wedding without the Maid of Honor and Best Man, then I would have to start calling them Baka and Brainless.""

Tick marks formed on the both of their heads.

"He said he would propose to Ino as scheduled and insist that they wait for your return. Also that he would pass on "Hag's" congratulations." Fukasaku continued.

"I swear to god; I'm going to shove a phaser in his ass..." Sakura grumbled.

"He also said that he will miss both of your company and wishes you both well and for your safe return home." Fukasaku finished.

Sakura's mood lightened up and turned to one of happiness and sadness. "With all of his quirks, we'll miss him too."

"Yeah, tell that snow white son of a bitch we'll be missing him and we can't wait to be a part of his wedding." Naruto said.

"I'll be sure to let him know."

"Thanks Old Man Toad, this'll probably be the last time we contact you for a while. We've can't keep up communication like this while on a mission. So just tell everyone to take care and we'll be back in 5 years." Naruto said, his eyes getting a little wispy.

"About that... That Slug princess said something about using secure channel 44819.7. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I'm sure you two will figure it out."

"44819.7? Doesn't ring a bell, but we'll look into it." Sakura replied.

"Very good. Well, since I'm here, it's been a while since I've had some Ro'Kegh blood pie. Where is the mess hall?" Fukasaku asked.

"Well, there technically isn't one." Sakura said.

"No mess hall? How do you eat?" Fukasaku exclaimed.

"Simple." Sakura said briefly before walking over to the replicator. "Just tell the computer what you want. It's a food replicator."

"You're kidding me, those things actually caught on?" Fukasaku exclaimed.

He leapt over towards the replicator. "Ro'Kegh blood pie."

The replicator hummed and in an instant, a Klingon pie appeared piping hot as if out of the oven.

"Ho ho! They had these on Kirk's Enterprise, but they weren't the greatest pieces of technology." Fukasaku said in amazement.

This gave the old toad an idea to try out. "Maggot pie." He requested.

"Gross..." Sakura said in disgust.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it." Fukasaku said.

"Knock it." Naruto mouthed to Sakura. His memories of the weeks spent eating bugs coming back to him much to his horror.

The pie in question appeared, making the previous one disappear.

"Looks half as good as Ma's homemade maggot pie." Fukasaku smiled as he took a scoop with the provided fork.

Sakura started to gag. "Ugh... Oh my god I'm going to be sick..." Sakura said as she quickly walked out of the room. She had eaten things that most people would vomit at the sight of, but she still couldn't get over the sight of bugs.

Fukasaku took a bite and his face lit up.

"Delicious, Naruto-boy would you like some?" The Toad Sage offered to his fellow Toad Sage.

"I'm good, thanks..." Naruto replied, trying to be polite to his master.

"What about you, Ms. Haruno?" Fukasaku offered, holding up of fork full of maggots still fresh and squirming.

Before she could loudly voice her rejection, the klaxon alarm blared.

 **"All hands report to your stations, I repeat, all hands report to your stations!"** The audio system spoke.

"Looks like that's your cue." Fukasaku said.

"Well, we're technically still off duty, but-"

"Bridge to Ensign's Haruno and Uzumaki. Report to the bridge immediately." Picard sounded over their rooms com system.

"Well never fucking mind then." Naruto deadpanned.

"Summon me back soon. It's been a while since I was on a Starfleet ship. Take care, and be safe." Fukasaku said before disappearing with both the blood pie and the maggot pie in his hands.

The Tenchi duo then sprinted into their rooms and quickly changed into their Star Fleet uniforms and then sprinted back out the door towards their next daily adventure.

* * *

 **Author's Note from samuraipanda85 and cmartinHFD: Hey there loyal readers, we've got some excellent news. So great that we just had to bust out this off canon omake to let you know. Enjoy.**

The two Ensigns rushed onto the bridge where Captain Picard and the rest were looking a mysterious white screen with black text the Tenchi duo couldn't make out.

"Sir, Ensigns Naruto Uzumaki and Ensign Sakura Haruno reporting for duty." Naruto and Sakura saluted.

"At ease Ensigns, for we have some excellent news." Picard stated with the largest grin on his face either of them had ever seen.

"Sir?" Sakura asked. She had an idea of what he was talking about, but she couldn't be certain.

"We have just received confirmation at 1114 hours that cmartinHFD and samuraipanda85 have received their 100th follower for our story. Mission accomplished!" Picard said as he pressed the intercom button on his chair.

"Attention all hands, stand ready. Our fanfiction has achieved 100 followers. Active protocol P-R-T."

"No way, we actually did it." Naruto muttered to himself in disbelief. Sakura took advantage of his absentmindedness to wrap him up in a big hug and plant a huge kiss on the cheek. "We did it!" She cheered. Naruto took a moment to realize that he was being hugged and quickly returned it to Sakura with gusto.

"Sir, Romulan Warbird and Klingon Negh'Var class ships bearing 1 mark 204 on an intercept course. They are hailing." Worf announced.

"On screen." Picard ordered.

"Captain Picard... Tomolak and myself have come to join your festivities. It took us a while to reach this sector of space." Gowron greeted.

"Of course. The more the merrier as we say. Beam over when ready, we have a lot more party guests to pick up. Picard out."

"Sir?" Sakura asked.

"We're over Element right now. So your friends can come aboard for the time being." Picard clarified.

"But, isn't that going against the story?" Naruto asked.

"Not at all, since this isn't part of the official timeline to this fiction." Picard said.

Picard then tapped his intercom again. "Guinine, Champagne and Blood wine for everyone! We reached our 100th follower."

"Aye aye, sir. Oh and Lt Worf? Called it." Guinine radioed back.

"Damn. I was certain that Legacy of Heroes was going to reach 100 followers first." Worf cursed.

"Well, we can't always get what we want. Speaking of, who don't we time warp to pick up Gohan and Videl? I'm sure they would like to have a party." Sakura said.

"Isn't she still pregnant?" Naruto asked.

"Yea, but we have synthahol so it shouldn't affect her any." Sakura clarified.

"We're already here!" Videl cried out as she and Gohan entered the bridge with all their friends from Legacy of Heroes.

"Well I'll be damned... Even our younger selves, that's interesting." Sakura commented.

"Don't forget us!" Tsunade said as herself and all of the Konoha 12 came through the other turbo lift.

"You guys made it!" Naruto cheered. "But where is Harry? He said he'd be coming soon." Naruto pouted as he looked for his favorite wizard.

"Oh he's coming, don't you worry. You know how wizards are." Tsunade replied.

 **"Yeah, always never late always on time crap."** Kurama laughed.

"Who cares? LET'S PARTY!" Inner Sakura shouted with glee.

"And so the fanfiction characters partied all day and night for about 3 days. During which couples danced with one another, people young and old got stupid drunk, and everyone got laid. The end." Samuraipanda85 finished as he closed the picture book against the backdrop of a roaring fireplace with a bottle of bourbon on the table, a monocle in his eye and a top hat on his head.

 **cmartinHFD: Thank you everyone who has contributed to this story in some form or another. Though, we did wish that Legacy of Heroes would have gotten 100 followers some time ago, we're just happy that you like this story as much as we do.**

 **samuraipanda85: To show our appreciation, we're gonna try our very best to get new chapters of Naruto and Sakura's Five Year Mission out every week until we run out of pre-written chapters to give you. Which should open up our schedule to finally FINALLY complete the Hell arc in Legacy of Heroes. So look forward to that.**

 **Until then, please keep reading and reviewing. Help us hit our next few milestones of 100 favorites, 100 reviews, and 200 follows. Catch you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Needs of the Many

Chapter 8: The Needs of the Many

"Ensign Haruno's personal log; Stardate 41971.9. It's been nearly a week since Naruto and I have arrived on the Enterprise and already we are the talk of the ship, or so says the gossip ring. I swear that Ro Laren has a bigger mouth than Ino. Naruto and I continue to grow closer; not only as a couple, but as each other's best friends. Captain Picard told me that we are enroute to the Promellion Star System, a system in which I would take great pleasure in learning a bit of its history. A history of a battle that happened over a thousand years ago. Supposedly this takes us pretty close to Element, but we were told that we're not going there, sadly. Would love to see the look on Sasuke's face when I tell him I'm dating Naruto."

"Picard to Ensign Haruno." Picard said over the comms.

"Go ahead."

"We have arrived at the battlefield and we have found something that I think you might want to see."

"On my way. Haruno out." Sakura said as she put down her log PAD. It was Naruto's time off so he was catching up on some sleep. But, Sakura decided to go into their now shared bedroom and tell him what's going on.

"Naruto?" Sakura said softly as she rubbed his bare back.

"Mmmmmhmmm, Sakura-chan..." He muttered in his sleep.

"Naruto... Come on, wake up." Sakura said as she shook him a little harder.

Stubborn even in his sleep, Naruto clutched his pillow tighter like it was his favor pink haired firecracker.

Sakura growled and finally got impatient.

"WAKE UP!" She shouted in his ear.

"BAH!" Naruto shouted, his limbs flailing about madly until he fell off their bed and into a pile on the floor.

Sakura tried to stifle her laughing fit. She didn't mean to wake him like that, but this was important.

"(snicker) Sorry to... wake you like that, Naruto." Sakura said, trying hard not to laugh.

"Ow, damn it Sakura, I was dreaming about ramen."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're always dreaming about ramen. And when you're not dreaming about ramen, its me." She pointed out.

"This time was different, I was dreaming about ramen AND you." He replied innocently.

"And you lived that dream on the holodeck. More than once I might add."

"It is a really good dream..." Naruto defended.

"Anyway, I woke you because Picard asked me to join him on the bridge at my leisure. I just wanted to tell you that I was headed up there and that I would be back later."

"Well heck, since I'm ALREADY UP, I'll join you." Naruto smiled his fake morning smile. "Just give me 10 minutes."

"I didn't mean to wake you like that. I know you're tired and need some sleep so you don't have to come up with me. It's your day off anyway."

"Nah, I'd rather hang out with the real Sakura than the dream Sakura." Naruto said as he stretched before standing up to get dressed.

"Alright. I'll meet you up there then. I'm late as it is."

"I thought he said you could leave at your leisure?"

"He did, but he said it's of historical importance. I think he found a relic among the war debris in the sys-" Sakura was cut off by the snoring of Naruto. The sound of her listing off historical artifacts bored him enough to return to his slumber as he laid half off the bed. Sakura just rolled her eyes and smiled. _'Nothing ever changes...'_ Sakura thought.

Sakura left their quarters and headed to the turbo lift. She was excited to learn more about the secrets of the universe and she was not about to pass up on this opportunity. The doors to the turbo lift opened up and she walked inside.

"Bridge." Sakura commanded as she doors closed

On the bridge, Picard and Riker stood in amazement at what they saw.

"A Promellian Battlecruiser..." Riker said in awe.

"It seems untouched by the passage of time... Perfectly preserved as the day the war ceased." Picard added.

"Sage of Six Paths..." Sakura said, she never seen anything so big. Not since the Battle of the Bijuu during the 4th Shinobi World War.

Picard turned around to see Sakura walking onto the bridge, in the same amount of awe as the bridge crew. A smile crept its way to Picard's face as Sakura looked upon the ancient ship.

"Remarkable, isn't it? For a thousand years this ship has been here." Picard said to Sakura.

Sakura slowly made her way down the ramp on the bridge to get a better look on the view screen. She marveled at it, eyeing it. Historical in ways she had only studied from materials Picard had her read.

"That ship is a thousand years old? Amazing..." Sakura said in amazement.

Picard still smiled. "I am planning on leading an away team over to the ship to explore it. You're more than welcome to join me."

"Sir, I don't think I need to remind you that-"

"Now now, Riker. I highly doubt anyone is alive over there. And if there is, well, Ensign Haruno is more than capable of protecting me." Picard said.

"Even so sir, I recommend you bring both Ensign Haruno and Ensign Uzumaki. For certainties sake, sir." Riker replied.

"There are no life signs aboard, sir." Worf stated

"I should hope not. After a thousand years I doubt anyone or anything would be alive on that ship." Picard stated.

"Save for dust bunnies." Sakura said, to which some of the bridge crew got a chuckle.

"Anyway, Number one. Sakura will be more than enough. Also, if I recall, I don't think he cares much for history, or the ghosts we may encounter. You have the bridge Riker. Data, Worf, Sakura, with me. Let's see the ghosts of this ships past." Picard said as said people made their way to the turbo lift.

Picard, Data, Worf and Sakura were walking down the long hallway of deck 4 to reach the transporter room. They were going to take in the sights of the ancient ship in hopes they will find something of value. They walked into the transporter room and took their positions on the transporter pad, then the doors suddenly slid open.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Naruto cried out. He stopped to gasp for breath. He had opted to try walking everywhere and had gotten lost trying to navigate this labyrinth of a ship.

"Naruto? I thought you went back to sleep." Sakura said in confusion.

"Yeah, sorry about that Sakura-chan, I over slept, but I'm here now." He perked up, puffing out his chest, ready for action.

"You don't have to go with us, you know. It is your day off." Picard said.

"Are you kidding? No way that I'm missing out on the first exploring mission of this trip. I bet there is buried treasure or impossibly long time survivors or monsters to fight." He listed off with childlike wonder.

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're beaming over to a derelict 1000-year-old ship with no life signs aboard." Sakura stated. "The chances of any 'buried treasure' are slim."

"Ship is a treasure in of itself." Picard stated.

"Besides, it could be haunted..." Sakura teased, but made Naruto go blue in the face.

"W-well t-t-then, I s-should probably go with you guys. To protect you from the ghosts I mean." He gulped, trying to save face in front of the guys and his lady love.

"Alright then." Picard shrugged. Naruto then nervously walked onto the pad. "Energize." Picard ordered and all 5 of them beamed aboard the old ship.

On the Promellian warship, the 5 of them appeared in beams of light and materialized into solid forms. The ship was dark from being without power. Worf and Data lit up their flashlights and Sakura took out her tricorder to do scans. Picard walked around with a flashlight of his own and Naruto stood shaking in fear.

"Dust bunnies, are an understatement." Worf stated, noticing the inch-thick layer of dirt caking the entire bridge.

The bridge of the ship was in such disarray that it was hard to tell what console did what. The layout was disorganized and sloppy. Considering the age, it's not unheard of.

Remnants of the crew remained at their posts. Their decomposed and nearly fossilized corpses sat in their chairs where their consoles sat.

"They died at their posts. A truly dedicated crew." Picard stated in awe.

Sakura roamed around the bridge, examining all of the ancient technology the ship had, which was still more advanced than what the Leaf had to offer.

"It's amazing to see even a ship as old as this still more advanced than my home." Sakura said in disbelief.

"I believe you will find that a great many species in the Galaxy are that way." Data stated.

"Probably." Sakura replied.

Data walked over to a console and studied it.

"I will now attempt to restore power." Data stated as he fiddled with the console. The rest of the team began to spread out to explore other areas of the ship.

Sensing he was about to be left alone Naruto quickly ran up to Sakura and hid behind her. Clutching the back of her shirt with a vice like grip.

"Oh would you stop... The only life here is us four. Data doesn't count." Sakura scolded.

"That's what I'm scared about, Sakura-chan. Ghosts aren't alive." He reasoned.

Sakura wanted to argue, but couldn't. "That's true." Sakura agreed. She walked over to one of the consoles where one of the long since dead crewmates was still seated. Completely decomposed and nearly fossilized. It didn't make Naruto any more comfortable.

Sakura felt Naruto's grip tighten at the sight of one of the dead crew members. A wicked smirk came to her face. She took out her flashlight and whipped around to shine it up her face, scaring the complete shit out of Naruto.

"BAAAHHH!" Naruto screamed like a little girl.

Sakura laughed so hard that she was crying and was red in the face. Naruto's face was absolutely priceless.

"Ho... hoohahahahaaa! Oh you shoulda seen your face!" Sakura said in a fit of laughter.

"Yer mean, Sakura-chan." Naruto pouted.

"Oh suck it up. It was all in good fun." Sakura said with a wink. but when she turned around, two faces with lights shining upwards on them, one dark and feral, one light and elderly, looking right at her.

"Good fun, huh?" The dark colored one said. Now it was Sakura's turn to have the shit scared out of her, along with Naruto.

"IIEEEEEEE!" Sakura shrieked.

"BAAAAAHHH!" Naruto yelled as the two of them grabbed hold of each other for safety.

The lights on the ship turned on and the faces turned into Worf and Picard, who of which were having a good laugh.

"The Captain always makes the first scare." Picard teased.

"Captain Picard!" They both shouted like a couple of meddling kids.

Picard chuckled. "Oh come now. Did you honestly expect that I was just some stiff old man? I still have a funny bone that works just fine. Now, enough of this foolishness and let's explore."

Naruto grumbled something along the lines of being scared again when Sakura gave him a light push forward.

"Mr. Data. Have you found anything?" Picard asked.

"A great deal, sir. Sensor logs, crew logs, personal logs, and weapon schematics. You were right, Sir. This ship is a treasure." Data said.

"I doubt their weapons would be of any use to the Federation." Worf stated.

"Agreed, however I'm betting their sensor logs are more interesting." Picard stated. "Sakura, see if you can download their data into your tricorder. We can analyze them later."

"Yes sir." Sakura said. She stood over the science console and began downloading the data onto her tricorder.

Naruto was walking around the ship away from the bridge. It still creeped him out, but not nearly as bad now that the lights were on.

 _ **'Is there really a reason why you are on this bucket of bolts?'**_ Kurama asked.

 _'To keep everyone entertained. Maybe blow some stuff up if needed.'_

 _ **'And here I thought you were going to go all Ghost Buster on this place.'**_

 _'Why? You really think there are ghosts on this ship?'_ Naruto thought, his eyes darting all around to see if he could catch the ghost.

 _ **'I don't think, I know. You forget, I can sense the presence of spirits, and this ship is teaming with them. No need to worry though. They are merely observing.'**_

Naruto gulped. _'D-d-do t-t-they want t-t-to... y-ya know...'_

 _ **'No. These spirits show no animosity towards you or Sakura, so just relax.'**_

 _'So they're not gonna steal my soul...thank god...'_ Naruto sighed in relief.

 _ **'No, they're not. Only the spirits of demons do that and there are none here.'**_

 _'Save for you.'_

 _ **'I'm not a demon you jackass. Despite what most of our world thinks, I'm just the manifestation of chakra from the original 10 tails. You know that.'**_

 _'Yeah, but save for you and all the tailed beasts, there are no other beings to be classified as demons. At least not on our world.'_ Naruto pointed out.

 _ **'Perhaps...'**_

Naruto continued to walk down the hall until he came to the Armory. The door didn't automatically open, so he pried it open with his bare hands and he looked upon what was in there.

"Oh my god..." Naruto gasped. He tapped his combadge. "Uzumaki to Picard."

"Go ahead."

"You might want to come down to the armory. There are survivors down here." Naruto said in shock.

"What?" Picard said in his own sense of shock.

"I count at least 80 people down here." Naruto stated.

"That is impossible. Our sensors could not pick up any life signs." Worf stated.

"Then there is either something wrong with our sensors, or the walls of this section are made of something in which the sensors couldn't penetrate. Either way, this is a rescue mission now." Naruto said seriously.

"I'm on my way, Naruto." Sakura said, knowing her cue as the only medic on the team.

As he waited, Naruto concentrated a handful of Kurama's chakra into the palm of his hand, creating a bright golden flame to act as his light source. It was a trick Naruto had used when his squad had discovered a cave filled with child prisoners of war. The chakra had a warm, calming effect on those Naruto didn't mean any harm. It would be a good way to approach the survivors.

"W-who are you?" One of the Promellians asked.

"I'm Ensign Naruto Uzumaki of the Federation Starship Enterprise." Naruto introduced. He looked upon the room of people there and a great number of then were either under dressed or not dressed at all. The room was completely unhygienic as the alien filth was spread around and some of them were even sick.

"You are an Elementian, aren't you?" An elderly Promellian asked.

"I am." Naruto responded, not knowing where the elder alien was going with this.

"I am the direct descendant of the original captain of this ship. According to his logs, we, as a race, have made frequent visits to your world. for what reason, I am not sure." The elder stated.

"Well it hardly matters now. What does matter is getting you guys off this ship and getting you to safety." Naruto said, thinking these guys had no doubt gone crazy after spending so long trapped on this ship.

"We are descendants of the crew and this has been our home for the last several generations. We have tried to free it from its prison of the acetone field, but to no avail. Are you really able to get us away from this place?"

"Acetone field?" Naruto asked, before he could question further though, Sakura came rushing in the room.

"I'm here!" She said as she observed her patients.

"Oh my god..." Sakura breathed out.

"Sakura, do what you can, but I need to borrow the elder dude and talk to Picard." Naruto ordered. Sakura didn't question it when Naruto got authoritative.

The blond stepped forward to hold out his hand to help the elder stand.

"Many thanks young man." The man grunted as he stood up.

"Don't mention it." Naruto said offhandedly as he led the elder to Picard who had just made it to the door leading into the room.

Picard stared at the alien man in shock. Naruto was 100% correct.

"Extraordinary..." Picard said. "I'm captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise."

"Xatura. Elder of the Promellian people aboard this ancient ship." The elder introduced himself.

"It's amazing that even after all this time, the Promellian race still exists." Picard said in amazement.

"No kidding, I'm more surprised that they claim to have lived on this ship for a thousand years." Naruto commented. He was only beginning to accept the crazy advanced technology that Star Fleet possessed, but a community of intelligent beings surviving on a ship drifting throughout space for generations? That was impossible, a thousand years is the kind of thing legends and myths are based around. Not that Naruto, the reincarnation of the son of the demigod who saved the world and taught humans ninjutsu, had anything to say against myths.

"No. our race as a life expectancy of 200 years." Xatura stated.

"Still, that's amazing. You guys spent 5 generations on this ship and you never figured out how to escape?"

"Escape? Escape what, Ensign?" Picard asked.

"It would be better if the Elder told you, I haven't gotten a clue what what is he is talking about." Naruto replied, giving the floor to the Elder.

"This ship has been trapped in an acetone field for the last 1000 years. The propulsion systems could never be turned back on due to this. For generations, we kept the ship on minimal power just to sustain life support and to send out a distress call." Xatura explained.

"An acetone field?"

"Correct."

Picard sighed. "I wish we knew that beforehand..."

"Why? What's an acetone field?" Naruto asked, completely lost with all this space techno babble.

"An acetone field is a field of radioactive particles that drain any and all power from a ship that is unfortunate enough to enter it. Taking power away from the propulsion systems and any source of energy a ship may have and increases radiation levels to lethal levels." Picard explained.

"Luckily, our ship has solar plating and a battery that is located in the armory. Even with the old replicators we were able to survive..." Xatura said.

"So what does that mean for us?" Naruto asked, still lost.

"Unless we can shut down or destroy the acetone assimilators, we will succumb to the same fate as the Promellians." Picard said grimly.

"What?! We can't stay here for a thousand years! We can't even stay for 200!" Naruto exclaimed.

 _ **'Maybe you can't, but I can.'**_ Kurama gloated.

"Calm down, ensign. We'll find a way to get out of here." Picard stated.

 _'Not helping- WAIT!'_ Naruto thought.

"Sir, I could destroy them." The whiskered blond volunteered.

"How?" Picard and Xatura asked.

"I've got more than just Shadow Clones in my arsenal, Captain. Just point me in the right direction of whatever those things are and I'll slice them in half." Naruto boosted.

"How? They are in and among the asteroids." Xatura stated.

"Well don't I just step outside and go looking for them? We've got a sensor thingy to find them, right?"

"The acetone field blocks sensor readings, making pinpointing their location near impossible." Data stated.

"So then I make a thousand clones and send them out looking for them."

"Naruto, this is a very reckless scheme you've hatched. I think the prudent course for now is to return to the Enterprise and gather our bearings before we make rash actions." Picard said sternly.

"Very well, you're the Captain." Naruto said, slightly defeated. He headed back inside to see if Sakura needed help with anything.

"Who is that young man?" Xatura asked the captain.

"Probably the most unpredictable member of Starfleet since James T Kirk." Picard said with a grin.

* * *

"Captain's log, supplemental. The away team to the Promellian battle cruiser not only provided with very interesting data in regards to the battle that happened here 1000 years ago, but by the help of Ensign's Haruno and Uzumaki, we found a rather large group of living Promellian's to which we thought to be extinct. They have spent the latter part of yesterday and a good portion of the day today acclimating to newer technology and getting a proper meal. Naruto is itching to get us out of this aceton field, but I'm just not certain enough to let him go out in open space to act on a harebrained plan that may not even work." Picard said.

In the ships conference room, Data, Worf, Geordi, Troi, Crusher and Riker sat at a table with Picard.

"So how can we get out of this acetone field?" Riker asked.

"According to Xatura, we can't unless we drastically alter the warp core. I don't know about you all, but we're fresh out of mobile star bases." Picard joked dryly.

"It would also take a week at least to modify the core enough to make it out of here." Geordi added.

"And with minimal power just to survive, it would take longer." Worf stated.

"Could we use the deflector dish in anyway?" Riker asked.

"I do not believe there is anything we can emit from the deflector dish to dissipate the acetone field." Data countered.

"Then there is only one option; destroy the acetone assimilators." Picard declared.

"We could use photon torpedoes, but according to our sensors, there are more acetone assimilators than the amount of torpedoes we have." Worf stated.

"Phasers would just be absorbed into the assimilators and produce greater amounts of radiation."Geordi said.

"We would just be adding fuel to the fire..." Riker stated grimly.

"What is Naruto's plan?" Crusher asked.

"He said he would be able to destroy them by going out into space. I have no doubt that he could, but I have a great amount of concern for his success." Picard explained.

"That is extremely reckless." Riker stated seriously.

"But it's the only option we have." Picard shot back with a sigh. "Either that, or we get comfortable with this ship for a long time to come."

The senior officers remained silent and nodded in agreement. Picard then tapped his combadge.

"Picard to Ensign Uzumaki."

"Ensign Uzumaki, go ahead."

"I want you to meet me at the starboard airlock. We're going with your plan to free the ship." Picard stated seriously.

On the other side of the comms, Naruto couldn't help but smirk. "Roger that. I'll meet you there."

"Very good, Picard out." With that said, everyone got up from the table. "Data, modify a tricorder with the approximate locations of every assimilator so Naruto at least has a map."

"Understood sir." Data stated.

Sometime later, Picard and Data arrived at the starboard docking port where both Naruto and Sakura were waiting.

"Naruto. This tricorder will be your guide to the assimilators. Try not to get too close to them. the closer you are, the higher the radiation is." Picard explained as he handed Naruto the device.

"Understood, I just need to be within a few hundred yards of them anyway." Naruto said as he took the device and clipped it to his belt.

"You will need an air suit, Naruto." Picard deadpanned.

"A what now?" Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"You need an environment suit. You can't survive in the vacuum of space and need air to breath. Don't you know that?" Picard stated incredulously. Seriously, how dumb was he?

"There's no air in space?" Naruto asked dumbfounded.

"Wait, seriously?" Sakura also asked. This was news to her as much as it was to him.

"Seriously. Space is a vacuum and has no atmosphere. As soon as you step out that airlock, you will die from explosive decompression." Data added.

"Oh wait, no trees, so no oxygen. Dooy." Sakura smacked her own forehead.

"Exactly." Picard stated as he held a hand over his face to block out the ignorance.

"Sakura-chan, how could you not know something that I don't? I thought you were the smart one." Naruto smiled, a little pleased that he wasn't the only clueless one for once.

"Damn it Naruto, I am a doctor, not a scientist." She berated him.

"As a medical officer, you also play the role of a science officer. There is a lot you have to learn." Picard stated dryly.

"Oops..." Sakura shied away, embarrassed.

"You two have only been here a week so I'm not surprised by this. Just study more." Picard stated.

"Yes, sir." Naruto and Sakura responded.

"So where is this air suit then?" Naruto said, wanting to get started as soon as possible.

"In the closet behind you." Picard pointed to a door that was beside Naruto.

He opened the door and pulled out a skintight suit with a glass visor helmet.

"The suit has magnetic boots should you land on a metallic surface." Data informed.

"How exactly do you plan on destroying the assimilators?" Picard asked.

"I'll use my most powerful attack. The Rasenshuriken." Naruto said as he slipped on his spacesuit.

"So does this thing constantly recycle his air, or does Naruto have a time limit before he has to return to the ship?" Sakura asked in the place of Naruto.

"The suit as a large re-breather built into it that recycles the air he uses." Data informed. "However, the suit does have a limit on how long the power will last."

"How long?" She insisted.

"Long enough that you don't have to worry. The power cell lasts up to 18 hours." Picard stated.

"No need to worry then, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he finished putting on his helmet.

"The suit can also withstand up to 3000 RADs. Any more than that and you will die from radiation exposure." Data informed.

"Instantly?" Naruto questioned.

"1000 RADs is lethal." Picard stated, which made Sakura go blue in the face.

"So stay away from 1001 RADs, got it." Naruto said through his visor, when his heads up display hummed to life.

"And these assimilators put out how much?" Sakura asked.

"At close proximity at their current energy levels, 4,800 RADs." Data replied.

"I'll be quick then." Naruto said as he walked towards the airlock.

"Naruto, wait a minute..." Sakura said.

Naruto stopped with his hand on the door handle. "Yeah Sakura?"

Sakura walked over to Naruto and had him turn around. She lifted his helmet off his head for a brief moment.

"This is for good luck." Sakura said as she locked her lips with Naruto's.

Naruto smiled as he returned the kiss with gusto, slipping a little tongue in before Sakura pulled back and placed his helmet back on his head.

"Later, lover boy." She smirked as she secured the helmet locks around his neck.

Naruto smirked, she was such a vixen.

"Alright, I'm ready to go. Data, let's do this!" Naruto cheered.

Data nodded as he stood by the airlock controls.

"Closing inner airlock." Data stated as the inner doors closed. "Depressurizing chamber." Data listed off as the air quickly left the airlock. Once done, Data opened the outer doors of the air lock into that of open space.

Suddenly a wave of cold swept through the airlock. It was chilly, the coldest Naruto had ever felt until the spacesuit readjusted itself to the new climate. It seemed to take away all the gravity as well. Once Naruto stepped to the edge of the airlock he felt weightless, like he was completely submerged in water and free falling in the air at the same time. He looked out into the inky blackness of space, and for the first time in a very long time, Naruto felt truly, completely, alone.

 _ **'I'm still here in case you forgot.'**_

Well, almost alone.

Naruto jumped from the airlock and made his way to the nearest asteroid. He floated along like he was flying. It was a truly amazing experience. he landed on the metallic asteroid and looked back. He was finally able to grasp the size of the Enterprise.

"Holy shit!" Naruto exclaimed. It was staggering. Naruto had fought toe to toe against Tailed Beasts the size of mountains, so he knew big and the Enterprise was flipping big.

 _ **'Damn! We were inside THAT?!'**_ Kurama said in shock as he looked upon the ship in question through Naruto's eyes.

The massive ship had to be over 600 meters long and almost 200 meters tall. It was truly a colossus if Naruto had ever seen one.

 _'And I thought your furry butt was big!'_ Naruto thought.

Then Naruto laid his eyes on the Promellian ship and compared both ships size wise. The Promellion ship was far bigger.

"Sage of Six Paths!" _'Damn that's big!'_

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Picard asked over the suit's comms.

"What? Oh no, nothing's wrong. Just taking in the view. Is Sakura-chan there?"

"I'm right here, Naruto." Sakura said.

"You wouldn't believe how big the ship is. And that alien ship we found, it's gotta be twice as big as the Enterprise!"

"Truth be told, Naruto, the Enterprise isn't the biggest ship in the fleet. That spot is reserved for the USS Yamato." Picard stated.

"Well they're all just stupidly huge!" Naruto said in awe.

"Wait, did you say Yamato?" Sakura asked in confusion, to which Naruto caught onto.

"Yes... does that name ring a bell?" Picard asked.

"He was the name of one our comrades, back in the Leaf. Good guy, creepy stare." Naruto explained.

"Ah... I see. Yamato was actually the name of an early 20th century sea faring battleship. Coincidentally, the USS Yamato is also a battleship built during when we were at war with the Klingons. It serves as a museum now. Too old and too far out of date to be of much use now." Picard explained.

"That's some coincidence." Sakura said.

"It is currently at the federation ship museum in orbit of Telmar 4." Data informed.

"Starbase 29 is near there. Perhaps when we're done here, we can head that way. Our schedule is pretty free for the moment." Picard announced.

 _'I think we're getting off track here.'_ Inner commented.

 _'I agree.'_ Sakura said back. "Um, shouldn't we focus on why Naruto is in space?" Sakura reminded.

"Too right. My apologies." Picard said.

"Yeah, what exactly am I looking for again? Like what does an acetone even look like?" Naruto said through the comms.

"The tricorder you have should pinpoint you to the location of the nearest acetone assimilator." Data said.

Naruto nodded and pulled out his Tricorder. The nearest assimilator was almost on top of him as it pointed him in that direction. Using Chakra enhanced eyes, he spotted a floating device of some kind that seemed to be about the size of a large boulder.

"Found one." Naruto stated.

"Good. Now, use that Rasen-whatever you called it. I'm anxious to see if this works." Picard ordered.

"Do you have surveillance cameras or something? Cause you are in for a show." Naruto stated as he positioned himself on top of an asteroid.

On the bridge, Picard had ordered to show the visuals from Naruto's helmet camera to broadcast his attempted to free the Enterprise.

"We're watching you on the bridge, Naruto." Picard stated.

"Alright!" Naruto made his cross sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto looked to his right where an exact duplicate of himself was standing there like he had been there the entire time. Naruto then held out his hand as the clone held out both its palms towards the real Naruto's open hand.

At first nothing seemed to happen, but as the crew of the Enterprise continued to watch they noticed something beginning to swirl in the palm of the Ensign's hand. What seemed like light particles began to appear out of nowhere and swirled around in his palm.

Then they sped up, swirling faster and faster until they formed a perfect sphere made of light.

 _'His Rasengan.'_ Sakura thought.

Naruto didn't stop there, the perfect sphere began to ripple along its edges, like it was growing a ring of shark teeth. Dr. Crusher couldn't help but equate it to the formation of a planet or a molecule.

Then in one final push, the sphere exploded outward, the jagged ring now transformed into four pronged throwing star the diameter of Naruto's height.

"What in blazes is that?!" Picard exclaimed in shock as he stood up from his chair.

"That..." Sakura started proudly. "Is the Rasenshuriken. Naruto's ultimate attack."

Picard looked in awe as the 4 blades of the Rasenshuriken began to spin at an incredible speed.

"A move he developed with the help of his shadow clones that would have taken any other ninja decades to perfect. He took the bases of chakra form, his Rasengan, and chakra nature, in his case his wind chakra. To create a jutsu unlike anything else. A blade that can cut anything at a microscopic level." Sakura listed off, it wasn't too often that she got to brag to others about her teammate's accomplishments. Everyone back on Element already knew his name.

"Extraordinary..." Picard breathed out.

"Can you do that, too?" Riker asked

"Not the Rasenshuriken as my element is water. However," Sakura held out her palm and single handedly created the blue, spiraling sphere known as the Rasengan. "I can create a base Rasengan. Naruto taught it to me a few years ago. It's come in handy in a pinch." Sakura smiled as she let the ball of Chakra spin in her hand for a moment before letting it die down.

"I could technically make my own variant of the Rasenshuriken with my water chakra, but I would need to create a shadow clone to do it, and Naruto is the only one I know with enough chakra to utilize shadow clones like that."

 _'Unless you use your seal.'_ Inner stated.

 _'Even then, it's not my style. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask Naruto to teach me some time.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'That'a girl! Show our man how dedicated we are!'_ Inner proudly stated.

"Rasenshuriken!" They hear Naruto shout as he threw his attack as hard as he could.

The Rasenshuriken careened towards the acetone emitter at incredible speeds before slicing through it like butter.

The two halves of the assimilator separated and exploded. Naruto's plan was working and well.

On the bridge, everyone cheered at Naruto's success.

"Hey Picard, how many acetone thingies are there?" Naruto asked over all the cheering.

 _ **'Check the device in your hand, idiot.'**_ Kurama stated.

Naruto did just that and it read...

"19 more to go. Simple enough." Naruto stated.

 _'Might need your chakra for this one though, Mr. Fluffles.'_

 _ **'I swear I'm going to hurt you...'**_

 _'Love you too.'_

Naruto checked his scanner to locate the next nearest drone. Approximately 1000 meters to his right.

Rather than leap from asteroid to asteroid though, Naruto thought he would get creative with the zero gravity. He created another clone and had him twirl Naruto around like an oversized sling shot. He built up a decent speed and flung Naruto towards his intended target.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEEEE!" Naruto cheered into his comms.

Sakura snickered as she shook her head. "I'm dating an overgrown child."

 _'At least he still has his overgrown dick.'_ Inner commented.

 _'Mmmm... Yes, he does. If we get out of this, I'm raping him tonight.'_

 _'Woah, phrasing!'_

 _'I'm serious. He's not going to bed nothing without drilling me first.'_ Sakura thought back sternly.

 _'Well fine. Ultimate libido meets unlimited stamina. It's a match made in heaven.'_ Inner Sakura admitted.

 _'Damn fucking straight it is. Also, his libido is almost as strong as mine. Makes it even better.'_ Sakura added.

 _'See, this is exactly why I was screaming in your ear for months after the 4th War that you were making a terrible mistake. Do you see what happens when you listen to me?'_ Inner smirked.

 _'Yes, yes... Duly noted.'_ Sakura replied.

"Rasenshuriken!" They heard again over the comms. This time, Naruto's attack sliced through 3 assimilators at once.

"Captain. Acetone levels are falling rapidly and our energy drain is slowing." Worf stated.

"Good. As soon as he has destroyed all of the assimilators, we can get underway." Picard said.

One by one, Naruto destroyed each of the assimilators until only 3 remained. The Enterprise crew felt like they were on the home stretch. While on route to the 17th assimilator, Naruto radioed to the bridge.

"Hey Picard, something feels off."

"Such as?" Picard asked.

"It feels like my suit is getting colder. Is the climate control malfunctioning or something?"

Worf scanned Naruto's suit, but shook his head.

"Negative. The controls are functioning properly." Worf stated.

"We'll do a full suit scan just to be sure, stand by." Picard ordered.

Naruto shrugged it off and prepared himself to take out pod number 17.

The crew on the bridge watched through the helmet camera as Naruto charged up another Rasenshuriken, when Sakura noticed something in particular.

Naruto threw his ultimate attack at the assimilator, destroying it like all the rest. As his arm lingered out in front of him, Sakura saw what looked like a shredded piece of fabric floating through space. At first she thought it was some debris from all the pods Naruto had destroyed, but it looked more familiar. Like the fabric on Naruto's spacesuit.

"Naruto, look at your arm!" Sakura shouted into the comms.

Confused, Naruto obliged Sakura and held up his right arm in front of his face so that the bridge crew could get a good look at it too. Everyone froze when he twisted his hand around to face his palm. The glove looked like it had been high-fiving a blender.

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT!"

"Naruto, you need to return to the ship immediately." Picard ordered.

"No, I'm two pods away from finishing the mission." Naruto insisted.

"That is an order, Ensign! Return to the ship immediately."

Begrudgingly, Naruto conceded. "Yes, sir."

"Captain." Data interrupted. "Based on the wear of his suit and his approximate distance from the nearest Enterprise airlock. He cannot return to safety before his suit completely tears."

"What are you saying? Are you saying he's gonna die out there?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It is very likely." Data replied.

"What about the transporter?" Riker asked.

"Too much radiation to use." Geordi stated.

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Sakura shouted as she put her chakra enhanced foot through the floor. "I WILL NOT SIT IDLY BY WHILE MY BOYFRIEND SUFFOCATES TO DEATH!"

Everyone on the bridge looked at Sakura with sympathetic looks, save for Data who was incapable of emotions.

"I promised him a long time ago that I would keep his heart beating until mine stopped..." Sakura sobbed. "There has got to be SOMETHING you idiots can do-

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted through his comms. On the bridge, Sakura went dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.

"There is nothing else for it then..." Naruto spoke. He created a shadow clone to throw him towards the next pod. Taking him even farther away from the Enterprise.

"N-Naruto! What are you doing?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"I'm completing the mission. I've still got more than enough chakra to destroy the last two assimilators." He explained as he dodged the odd asteroid.

"But you'll die, you idiot!"

"I'll die anyway. At least this way I can free the Enterprise and the Prothean people." Naruto replied.

"NO! DON'T DIE! PLEASE!" Sakura pleaded.

"Sakura-chan... I'm really sorry..." Naruto whispered. He tightened his fist. He needed to steady his heart for this one. Like a true shinobi.

"Comms off." Naruto said, killing his communication with the bridge.

 _ **'Summon me, Kit. I can send you back to the ship once we're finished here.'**_

 _'If I summon you out here you'll suffocate and freeze to death before you could even throw me. And I won't sacrifice you to save myself.'_

 _ **'Wrong, Kit. I'm immortal, remember?'**_

 _'That's bullshit and you know it. Just sit tight, we're not dead yet.'_

Naruto landed on an asteroid the size of a house that was a decent distance from the next assimilator.

"This should be good" Wasting no time, Naruto created another clone to create the Rasenshuriken.

Naruto winced as a shot of pain traveled up his arm. His arm was so cold it felt like it was being pricked with a hot metal rod. He shook off the pain and aimed and fired, the jutsu arched toward the target, but missed.

"Damn it! Again!" He ordered. His Shadow Clone held his palms to create another Rasenshuriken.

* * *

Back on the bridge, Picard was furious. "Open those comms back up!" He barked.

"We can't sir, Ensign Uzumaki is refusing to answer our hails."

 _'Naruto...'_ Sakura thought sadly. All she could do was watch as the love of her life was moments away from dying and there was little she could do. Except...

 _'If he is gonna die, we still have a bit of his seed from this morning trapped in your jutsu. A good portion of it is still alive.'_ Inner said.

 _'What the fuck?! Why would you think of or even consider that now?!'_

 _'I'm saying that we can carry on his legacy through his child. The way things are looking... we're about to lose our sunshine...'_ Inner stated sadly.

Sakura felt like there was a dark black hole in the center of her chest sucking her inside into her heart. It couldn't be true. Naruto always came back from these impossibly dangerous missions. No one else beat the odds like he did. He just couldn't...

"WARNING. ENVIRONMENT SUIT 14 LOSING POWER. AUTO SHUTDOWN WILL BEGIN IN TWO MINUTES." The computer informed.

"What about teleporting him here?" Picard said, a little desperation in his voice.

"Transporters still cannot operate due to the radiation in space." Geordi stated.

"Can we move the ship closer to him?" Dr. Crusher suggested.

"Engines are still offline until the assimilators are destroyed." Data stated.

"The 19th assimilator has been destroyed!" One crew member manning a computer shouted. "Only one left!"

The entire crew was on the edge of their seats. Only one minute and thirty seconds remained until Naruto's spacesuit failed.

Seconds passed like minutes, everyone was growing more desperate by the moment.

"Come on, Uzumaki..." Worf whispered.

"60 SECONDS UNTIL ENVIRONMENT SUIT AUTO SHUTDOWN." The computer informed.

 _'It's now or never.'_ Inner pressed.

Sakura was slowly moving her hand to her lower abdomen. She still wasn't sure about whether or not she wanted to do this. But if Naruto was going to die, to which any doubts were being cast aside, she needed to keep her sunshine alive somehow and this maybe the only way to do it. As her hand was close to coming in contact with her abdomen, there was another explosion.

"The final assimilator has been destroyed. Energy levels are returning to full power." Worf stated.

"Hail Naruto again!" Picard barked.

Data pressed the controls on his panel to open up a communication channel with Naruto.

"Enterprise to Ensign Uzumaki, do you copy?" Picard barked.

"..."

"Ensign Uzumaki, are you reading us?"

"..."

"Naruto! Are you there?!" Picard exclaimed in desperation.

"...Ensign Uzumaki here, the final assimilator has been destroyed. You're free now." Naruto reported, his voice heavy and sad.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Hey Sakura-chan... You're safe now. I destroyed all the assimilators." Naruto said weakly.

"Naruto... I love you..." Sakura sobbed. "Please don't go..."

"Sakura-chan... I love you too, I always have..." Naruto winced as the icy cold void of space crept up his right arm, his fingers had long since gone numb.

"Don't cry Sakura-chan, you're safe...so I'm happy... I hate to hear you crying..." Naruto smiled to himself.

"I'm losing my sunshine. How can I not cry...?" Sakura cried out.

"You'll find another...how could any guy not fall for your cute smile...or your charming forehead... hissss..." The cold creeped up to his neck.

"I don't want another... I want you... Only you... I told you that..." Sakura sobbed.

"Don't... don't let me hold you back Sakura. You're gonna do great things...and make some lucky bastard really happy... I just know it."

"Naruto..." She begged.

"Good bye, Sakura-chan..." Naruto whispered before turning off his comms one final time.

"NO! NARUTOOOO!" Sakura cried as she fell to her knees.

And now Naruto was alone. Alone out in the vast emptiness of space. The infinite universe would serve as his grave. Kurama was keeping quiet, what else was there to say?

Naruto looked around and could see forever in every direction. Countless stars with endless possibilities surrounding them. And entire cosmos he would never get to see but would become a part of for all eternity.

Naruto closed his eyes and waited to fall asleep for the last time.

 _'It won't be all bad...'_ He thought. _'I'll get to see Pervy Sage again... and the Old Man Hokage... and I'll be with my Mom... and Dad...'_

Naruto's eyes shot wide open, he could not believe he was this fucking stupid.

Meanwhile on the bridge, Sakura released her contraceptive jutsu and the remaining swimmers from Naruto were free.

 _'You made the right choice...'_ Inner stated sadly.

Dr. Crusher was busy comforting Sakura on the bridge as best she could. The girl had broken down right in the middle of the bridge. Riker had thrown something against the wall. Worf could not stop gripping the sides of his console.

Picard hid his face from his crew. A moment of silence for a brave man.

Just then the comms crackled to life and Naruto could be heard again.

"Uh...Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's head shot up, eyes wide. She heard a voice that left her in disbelief. It couldn't be...

"Please don't be mad... But I just remembered something. Something important."

"Naruto...?" Sakura said in a shaky voice.

"Cause I swear to God I only just remembered this..." Sakura looked up at the screen and watched as Naruto flashed through a familiar set of hand signs.

"The Flying Thunder God technique? YOU JUST REMEMBERED THAT?!" Sakura exclaimed. Her sadness replaced with fury.

"I just know we'll be laughing about this one day. Hell, maybe we can skip right ahead to laughing about it now?" He hopefully suggested.

"I'M NOT IN A LAUGHING MOOD, IDIOT!" Sakura seethed.

Naruto finished his hand signs and soon his view was changed from open space to the view of main engineering.

"Sensors show that Naruto is now in main engineering." Data stated.

"Data, you have the bridge. Doctor, Sakura, Geordi, Worf, Riker, Troi with me." Picard ordered.

Everyone that Picard selected entered the turbo lift.

"Main engineering." Picard stated. The doors closed and the turbo lift moved to engineering.

"Someone is going to have to keep me from killing him." Sakura hissed as she cracked her knuckles.

"Why is that?" Worf asked.

"That idiot thinks that he can worry me to death like that and get away with it? To make me so desperate that I do…that…" Sakura said. The lift doors opened to engineering where they could all see a certain blond man in a skintight spacesuit laying on the ground and clutching his right arm.

"HOOOOOO-DAMN! THIS STINGS!" Naruto shouted as the warm air hit his frost bitten skin.

As he said that, everyone pilled out of the turbo lift and made their way further inside engineering. There, on the floor, was Naruto with a completely frostbitten arm. Sakura dove right for him and pounded his head.

"DO THAT AGAIN AND I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"

"OOOWW! ALRIGHT! I'm sorry..." Naruto replied.

Sakura slammed her lips into Naruto's as she cried, happy that she had her ray of sunshine back.

Naruto wrapped his arms around his cherry blossom. His right arm stung like few things he had ever felt, but who cared about that? He could hold his Sakura-chan again, feel her bony curves and taste her scent with every breath he took. She felt so warm. It was so cold out there in space, Naruto had never felt so alone, he felt so scared. But feeling her lips on his, her skin touching his; it was damp, it was warm, it was electric. He felt alive again, he felt safe, he was okay...

"You have some explaining to do, mister." Riker spoke up. He didn't want to ruin this moment, but action had to be taken.

Naruto looked up from over Sakura's shoulder. Every instinct he had wanted him to ignore Riker and stay like this with Sakura. But he figured he did owe the crew an explanation.

"Let them both be for now, Riker." Picard said, which stunned both ensigns. "This was a trying ordeal for everyone here, sure. But not nearly as trying as it was for them. Give them a day's rest for now and then we'll discuss the matter of disciplinary actions."

"Disciplinary actions?" Naruto questioned as Sakura also pulled away from him slightly when she heard this.

"You disobeyed a direct order to return to the ship, Mr. Uzumaki and Sakura put a hole in the floor of my bridge." Picard stated sternly.

"Wait, now hold on. Yes, I did disobey orders, but you can't seriously blame Sakura-chan for being emotionally distraught." Naruto defended.

"And I expect every one of my crew to keep a lid on their emotions while on duty! Being emotionally compromised while on the bridge of my ship is something I do not tolerate!" Picard sternly said with a raised voice.

Naruto opened his mouth to rebuttal but no words came out.

Picard took a deep breath and sighed. "However, in regards to the circumstances that took place, you acted within the best interest of the ship, her crew, and your love. You risked your life to save over a thousand lives. If ambassador Spock were here, he would quote that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. In this case, you acted purely on logic to save the ship. That reason alone is why you will remain on the ship, Sakura as well. However, should you disobey my orders again, circumstances be damned, you both will be sent on a one-way trip back to Element. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Sakura replied as Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"There still will be disciplinary actions, but as I said, I'll hold off on that for now. Naruto, you will go to sickbay and have that arm looked at. Sakura, you will accompany him. Afterwards, you two should return to your quarters as I'm sure there are somethings you two need to discuss." Picard said.

"Right, thank you." Naruto said.

"Wait a minute. What things?" Naruto asked as he turned to Sakura. He saw the look of defeat and shame on her face. He was starting to get worried now.

"I... did something out of fear and desperation of losing you..." Sakura said hesitantly.

"What is it? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, growing nervous.

"I'll tell you later..." Sakura said quietly. "When we're alone..."

Naruto nodded. Hoping against hope that Sakura didn't promise anyone something crazy. Like offer to have sex with some guy if he got the teleporter working and saved Naruto's life.

Nevertheless, he let it slide for now. The two helped each other to their feet and followed Dr. Crusher to the nearest sickbay.


	9. Chapter 9: The Needs of the Few

Sometime later, Naruto and Sakura were in sickbay having Naruto's arm checked out. Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time Naruto's arm had seen such trauma.

"Well, you're damn lucky is all I can say. You will regain full use of your arm in a few days." Dr. Crusher said.

"Compared to last time, that's nothing short of good news." Sakura said.

"Why, what happened last time?" Dr. Crusher inquired.

"Long story short, I blew my arm off." Naruto said simply.

"During the war 4 years ago." Sakura added.

"I see. Well, you two are all set. I suggest you get some rest." Dr. Crusher stated.

Naruto got up from the bed and walked with Sakura to the turbo lift. A short while later, they arrived in their quarters where Naruto promptly flopped down on the couch, happy to be alive. But there was something on his mind that was eating at him. What Sakura said before in engineering. He had questions that needed to be answered.

"So, care to tell me what you did?" Naruto asked, getting to the point.

"Don't you think you should rest first?" Sakura suggested, hoping to avoid the topic for a while.

"Nope, I'd rather just get this out of the way now." Naruto said sternly.

Sakura sighed and sat on the couch next to Naruto.

"At the moment you cut off the comms, I felt so heartbroken and thought I had lost you forever. So, in a desperate attempt to keep you alive in some way, I released the contraceptive jutsu that still held some living sperm that was inside me from earlier, in hopes that I could carry on your legacy through your-our child... So... There is a good chance we could become parents..." Sakura explained softly.

Naruto just stared at her.

"Do you understand, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she sensed that Naruto might not be getting the full picture.

"You... You're saying we could be parents? Of a child?"

"Yes, that's usually what it means to be parents. But, nothing is certain yet." Sakura said.

"H-how?"

"What do you mean how? Don't you remember what I told you? I released the contraceptive jutsu that still held some of your living sperm from this morning." Sakura repeated.

"I thought it destroyed sperm instantly..."

"No, it holds them away from my eggs until the sperm cells die. It doesn't destroy them."

"And some survived?"

"Oh for crying out loud... YES! What part of this isn't sinking in?"

"Why? Why would you do this?" Naruto stated.

"I was desperate to keep at least some part of you alive... I... I just couldn't bear the thought of losing you... I-I really couldn't..." Sakura chocked out as she started to break down.

"After a week of dating?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I wasn't thinking Naruto... I'm sorry... I j-... Wait a minute..." Sakura started as she started to realize something. Then it hit her. "Oh my god... I'm so stupid! My hormone suppressant is a fucking form of birth control! I completely forgot about that."

"Sakura, Sakura, look at me!" Naruto said as he grabbed Sakura's arms to hold her steady. "You are not stupid! Don't you ever say that about yourself, you hear me?"

"Well I must be! Here I am getting all emotional about this when I have been taking a fucking birth control prescription this whole time! Dr. Crusher had told me that its nearly as fool proof as my jutsu and here I am talking about us having a child!" Sakura cried.

"Sakura, listen to me. You were distressed. My idiocy almost got me killed and you weren't thinking clearly. It's my fault that we are in this mess."

"That's no excuse, Naruto!" Sakura cried further. "I should have never even thought about doing that... All I did was make myself look like some overly obsessed stalker..."

"Sakura...if I was in your shoes. If you were about to die on me and there was nothing I could do to save you... I'd probably do the exact same thing you did." Naruto admitted.

"Y-you would have?" Sakura said as she looked up into Naruto's eyes.

"I just... never thought you'd ever be willing to go so far for me."

"Of course I would... You mean everything to me, you always have. I would have done anything for you, even when we were kids. We have been best friends for the longest time and I want us to be together even longer than that."

Naruto looked at her in awe. "You really mean that Sakura?"

"Of course I do..."

Naruto pulled her in for a tight hug. Sakura relished the sensation of being in his arms until her relief of not being rejected was too much and she cried some more.

Sakura felt something humming into her shoulder. It was Naruto, he was laughing.

"Naruto? What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just... Now I kind of wish you hadn't been taking that birth control."

Sakura gasped in shock. "You mean you... want to have a child... with me? N-now?" Sakura asked.

"Well not now...if I'm honest. Later on in our relationship. But if you had gotten pregnant now I wouldn't have rejected you. Hell I'd be thrilled. I've always wanted to have a family with you Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled.

Sakura smiled warmly as her misty eyes gazed upon the man she loved. "I'm very glad to hear that, Naruto. Who knows? Maybe it could still happen. I did only start taking it yesterday, but the chance of that happening are pretty slim. Either way, I would love nothing more than to have a family with you. Maybe in a year or so."

"Ok, but let's not rush things. The last thing I want to do is jump into this too quickly and screw things up between us. We've been dating... what, a week?"

"Oh I agree wholeheartedly. I'm just happy to know that even if it does happen that you'll be by my side. Most guys would just run away..."

"Most guys aren't men like me. And if anyone thinks that I'm going to let any kid of mine have a childhood like mine...well they're crazy." Naruto pounded his chest to prove his resolve.

Sakura's smile turned into a frown from remembering the past Naruto had. It wasn't a happy one and she understood what he meant entirely.

"Nor do I want any child of mine to have my childhood. Growing up with people thinking I was nothing more than a lost cause, even by my own parents because I wanted to be a ninja."

"So we agree then. Any child of our will have both our unconditional love and support."

"Oh, damn straight. Like hell I'm gonna let a child of mine grow up with a parent that resents them." Sakura said suddenly, to which Naruto's eyes widened.

"Your parents resent you?" He whispered.

"Not both of them..." Sakura said sadly. "My dad did for a while because I wasn't born a boy. He pretty much hated me and refused to acknowledge me until I became a Genin."

"You're kidding me. I'm gonna have to add him to the list." Naruto said, being sure to add Sakura's father to the Prank List.

"I'm not done..." Sakura said as she held up her hand. "Remember that day I came into school with my arm in a cast and a black eye and I had told you I fell down the stairs?"

Naruto went wide eyed. "No..."

"My dad beat me the day before... We were out shopping and I needed to use the bathroom really bad. we were around 6 years old at the time. But my dad wouldn't so much as look at me while my mom was at home because she was sick. I ended up peeing my pants because I couldn't hold it any longer... When we got home, he beat me for what was a simple accident..." Sakura said, her body shuddering as tears started to fall.

"And you say he stopped when you became a genin?" Naruto said, trying in vain to contain his building rage.

Sakura nodded. "I think it's because if he tried to do that again, I could fuck him up worse than he had ever done to me... and he knows it"

"Well you won't ever have to threaten him with that ever again. Cause when we get back to the Leaf, he and I are going to have words. He'll know that I'll be the one ripping him a new one if he ever lays a hand on you."

"Believe it or not, I do want him to be a part of my life. He may be an asshole, but he is still my father."

 _ **'Am I crazy or is this the same mentality she used to date that Uchiha for all these years?'**_

 _'Hush.'_

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"You only get one father and one mother. Someday, karma will come to bite him in the ass and make him realize that he was wrong." Sakura said.

"And if karma doesn't show up, I'll sick Kurama on him for ya." Naruto declared.

 _ **'I'll do it too.'**_

"I have no doubt that you will." Sakura said as she stood up from the couch. She walked over to the replicator. "Tea, ginger, hot." Sakura ordered. A cup of hot tea materialized and she slowly sipped it. "I don't have much of my family left, Naruto. A great deal of my clan was wiped out when Kurama attacked the village. My mother and father are really all I have."

Inside Naruto, a look of sadness and guilt came across Kurama's face.

 _ **'Kit, I need to speak to her...'**_ Kurama said sadly.

 _'Sure.'_

Wordlessly, Naruto stood up and made the appropriate hand signs to activate his seal. He gave the lock and good twist and slammed his palm down, summoning 1/10th of Kurama's strength, enough so that he would appear no larger than Akamaru right out of the seal.

"Kurama?" Sakura said as she looked upon the sad face of the large fox.

 **"I am terribly sorry about the death of your clan, Sakura..."** Kurama said sadly.

"Wait a minute, hold on." Naruto said as he stood in between the fox and the woman. "That wasn't your fault Kurama. You were under Obito's influence."

 **"That doesn't mean I don't feel guilty about it. Regardless if I was being controlled or not, the deed was still done through me."**

"It's okay, Kurama." Sakura said, to which the sad fox looked up to see a smile on Sakura's face. "I don't blame you anymore, not since I found out the truth about what really happened. Obito paid for my clan's death as well as the death of so many others. You have nothing to apologize for."

Kurama dipped his head down in humility. **"Thank you. Coming from someone I have wronged, that means a lot."**

"Think nothing of it. Would you like something to eat?" Sakura offered. Kurama tilted his head to the side at the strange notion she just suggested.

 **"Eat? I'm a conscious being made entirely of chakra, I don't eat."**

"Just because you don't have to, doesn't mean you can't. Come now, I'm sure you've at least wanted to try something."

The demon fox paused to think about that for a moment.

 **"...I want to try ramen. See what the Hell the big deal is about it once and for all."**

Sakura sighed as she turned back to the replicator. "Miso pork ramen with extra meat." Sakura ordered and a bowl of said dish appeared. Naruto's mouth was watering at his favorite dish, but this one was for Kurama. Sakura placed the dish down for Kurama to eat.

Kurama dipped his snout into the bowl and lapped up some broth with a slice of pork and a few stray noodles. He chewed, swallowed, and smacked his chops.

 **"Fuck me this is good."**

"See?! I told you!" Naruto said loudly.

 **"Well for once you were right."** Kurama said as he went back in for seconds.

 **"And here I thought you were only obsessed with the stuff because that was the only restaurant that would serve you."** Kurama slurped up a strand of noodles.

"Well, I'm gonna have my new favorite." Sakura said as she turned to the replicator. "New York strip, medium rare with sautéed mushrooms, baked potato and Caesar salad." Sakura ordered, to which Naruto and Kurama looked up at Sakura's order. A plate with a rather large piece of meat with a baked potato covered in butter appeared along with a plate of salad. The aroma alone was enough to drive the guys crazy.

 **"Ooh, I wanna try that next."** Kurama spoke.

"Me too." Naruto chirped.

"Computer, replicate two more of the previous order. Make one rare." Sakura ordered and two more of the same dishes appeared.

After Sakura set down her meal on the table, she brought Kurama his and Naruto got up and brought his over to the table. Naruto was resisting the urge to drool.

Sakura had already seated herself at the table and started eating her steak. The meat dissolved in her mouth like butter as she moaned in utter delight from the flavor. "Damn, that's soooo good..."

"Mmmmmm, you said it Sakura-chan."

 **"Why the fuck haven't I taken to eating before?"** Kurama stated in content as he ate his steak.

"I don't know. It would have given the two of us something in common. We probably could have been friends long ago if we had just sat down and had a bowl of ramen together." Naruto rationalized.

 **"Agreed."**

After a while, they had all finished their meals and rubbed their full bellies.

 **"I gotta hand it to you, Sakura. That was absolutely delicious."** Kurama said as he licked his chops.

"What can I say? I like what tastes good." Sakura said with a shrug. "Now, who's ready for desert?"

"Me!" Naruto said through a mouthful of salad.

"Finish your salad first." Sakura said sternly.

"Yes Ma'am." He said sadly.

 **"I'm no damn rabbit..."** Kurama protested.

"I wouldn't have expected you to like it simply because foxes in general are carnivores. Naruto has no excuse." Sakura stated.

"But he has rabbit ears! Doesn't that make him part rabbit?" Naruto said.

 **"You can kiss my fuzzy ass."**

"Alright, alright. No more bickering or no desert for anyone." Sakura scolded.

Naruto shut up and finished eating his salad and Kurama didn't say another word. "That's better." Sakura said with a smile.

Sakura turned to the replicator to order desert. "Two New York style cheesecakes and... um...What do you want, Kurama?"

 **"I'll try whatever you two are eating. Chocolate is only poisonous to dogs and not just all canines right?"**

"I think it's all canines." Sakura stated.

 **"Damn... Okay, do they have... what the hell is that candy on the stick... Dango I think it's called."**

"Computer, is a Dango stick in the library?" Sakura asked.

"NEGATIVE. THERE IS NO ENTRY FOR SPECIFIED FOOD." The computer replied.

 _'Damn.'_ They all collectively thought.

"Okay then. Two slices of New York style cheesecake and a slice of apple pie." Sakura ordered and said deserts appeared. Sakura handed one of the slices of cheesecake to Naruto and the apple pie to Kurama.

Kurama sniffed the apple pie and licked his chops. **"Mmmm. That smells good."**

Kurama took a rather large bit of the apple pie and took in its flavor. **"Mmmmm... Delicious."** Kurama said as he dug in for more.

Naruto and Sakura took it as their cue to dig in to their own dessert. They scooped up a bite of the cheesecake with the chocolate drizzle and the gram cracker crust. Their faces lite up when the delicious treat touched their tongues.

"Oh, that's so good..." Naruto moaned as he ate more.

"Isn't it? Dr. Crusher introduced it to me." Sakura said happily.

"Mmmmm, at this point I'd give up all the future technology we were promised just if they gave us all these recipes when we got home." Naruto said, taking another bite.

"They are sending us the replicators which has all of this food stored in the memory banks." Sakura pointed out.

"Damn. We're gonna make it out of this mission like bandits." Naruto stated.

"And it's for the good of our people too. The replicators alone can end world hunger and with the medicines and medical tech, we can effectively put a stop to disease." Sakura pointed out.

"And here I thought achieving world peace was going to be an uphill battle." Naruto mused.

Sakura finished eating her cheesecake and put the plate back in the food slot.

"I just can't believe how medically advanced they are. It's almost like a miracle that they can put a stop to things like cancer. Dr. Crusher even told me that pregnancy testing has also been-" Sakura stopped in her tracks the moment she realized where she was going with that. "Oh my god... I just remembered that with their technology, they can determine a false or positive pregnancy within an hour of conception... Maybe I should find out for sure, just to be safe."

"Alright, let's do it." Naruto said. Sakura stood up to leave, but Naruto stopped her by grabbing both her hands and taking them into his own. He looked her dead in the eye.

"Sakura-chan. Pregnant or not, I'll still love you. Do you understand me?" He was completely serious.

Sakura nodded as she bit her lower lip. "I know. I just feel kinda silly for taking such a desperate action."

"Well however it goes down, it'll work out in the end." Naruto stated.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Alright. Let's go." Sakura said. "You can chill out for a while if you want, Kurama. As far as I'm concerned, you can stay out 24/7. I'm sure the bed in the other room is a far cry from being inside Naruto."

"Just don't answer the door for anyone. I'm not sure how Picard would react to us keeping a giant demon fox in our room. We're on thin ice as it is." Naruto ordered.

 **"I am not your damn pet!"**

"Kurama..." Sakura said with a motherly tone, like she was about to scold a child. "Behave."

Kurama dipped his head down and walked into Naruto's bedroom to take a nap. Naruto and Sakura then left their quarters to sickbay. Sakura was very nervous about all of this. It's true, they had only been together for a week and she went and rushed into doing something so rash because she was afraid of losing Naruto. While Naruto says he will be by her side no matter what, she still had doubts. She was scared of what would really happen but she needed to know for certain.

"Sickbay." Naruto ordered as the turbo lift they had walked into descended down 4 decks. Sakura wasn't even paying attention as her mind was filled with possibilities, none of them good.

She then noticed a strange sensation in her left hand. She looked down and saw that it was Naruto holding her hand in a comforting gesture.

Sakura looked up to see Naruto smiling at her, to which she just couldn't resist returning said smile.

"It's all going to be okay, Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

"I hope so..."

The two of them walked out of the elevator and down the hall, hand in hand. They rounded the corner and entered sickbay where Dr. Crusher greeted them.

"What brings you two here?" Dr. Crusher asked.

"I remembered what you said about detecting a pregnancy earlier than any other way." Sakura stated and Crusher nodded.

"Oh, okay then. Hop up on a table and I'll go grab a tricorder." Crusher ordered as she went back to her office.

Sakura hopped her bottom right on to the exam table as Naruto stood next to her, his hand still holding hers.

Crusher came back around with a larger tricorder than Naruto has used. She pulled a little device from the top of it and scanned Sakura's abdomen.

"Hmm..." Crusher hummed as she looked over Sakura's uterus. "Well... I'm not really seeing anything. I don't think... Wait a minute." Crusher said suddenly, making Sakura and Naruto hold their breath.

"Computer, enhance grid 294." Crusher stated. On a large screen on the wall near them, the computer brought up an inside image of Sakura's uterus. In it was a single egg with the tail of a sperm cell coming out the side of it. Sakura immediately knew what that meant, but Naruto was confused.

"Well, the egg is definitely fertilized. Now it's to wait and see of it actually takes." Crusher said.

"Wait, so is she pregnant or not?" Naruto asked, he was used to being out of the loop on most medical things (that was Sakura's department) but this time he was a bit more invested.

"Well as you can see, your sperm cell has fertilized one of her eggs. That is the first stage of a confirmed pregnancy. However, it can take up to two weeks to determine if a fetus has formed. But 9 times out of 10, this leads to a developing fetus." Crusher explained, to which Naruto wend wide eyed.

Sakura sighed in exasperation. "I was afraid you'd say that..." Sakura was now waiting for Naruto's reaction.

"Ok, I'm still a bit lost... So you're saying that we won't know about Sakura's pregnancy until 2 weeks from now?"

"Let me put it in terms you can understand. As of right now, she is pregnant, but you won't be able to see the baby until two weeks have gone by." Crusher said with annoyance in her tone. honestly, how thick was he?

Naruto blinked for a few moments, the gears finally turning.

"We're gonna be parents, Sakura-chan." He said quickly.

"I understand if you are angry with me, Naruto. I jumped right into this without even thinking about what I was d-MMF!" Sakura was brought out her speech when Naruto smashed her lips with his.

He pulled back from her with the biggest grin on his face she had ever seen. "WE'RE GONNA BE PARENTS, SAKURA-CHAN!"

"Y-You're not mad?!" Sakura said in shock.

"Why would I be mad? Sure this is WAY sooner than I ever dreamed, but I'm getting a son! A family, Sakura-chan!" He explained with a grin as bright as the sun.

"Naruto, it's still too early to tell what the gender will be." Crusher reminded.

"Nope, it'll be a boy. I've got father's intuition." Naruto proudly proclaimed.

"And if you're wrong?" Sakura smirked in amusement.

"Then it'll be a girl, won't it? And then I get two amazing women in life. It's a win-win." He explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Tears of joy came to Sakura's face. "Oh Naruto-kun!" She exclaimed before locking her lips with his.

Crusher stood back and smiled at the true love being shared between the two young ninja's. Even though this was a whole lot sooner than either one of them wanted, it was still a beautiful sight.

Sakura pulled away from Naruto before the kiss got too heated. Their foreheads leaning against one another as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I know I've said it before, but I didn't know how much it really meant to me. I love you, Naruto. I love you more than anything in the galaxy." Sakura said dreamily.

"And I love you, Sakura-chan. More than anything in the universe." Naruto replied back.

Sakura hugged Naruto enough to whisper something in his ear. "Let's go tell Kurama and have a little celebration in my room." Sakura whispered.

Naruto grinned at Sakura's suggestion. He scooped her up in his arms bridal style and made his hand signs to teleport them to their room.

Dr. Crusher couldn't help but laugh. _'Kids these days, they didn't even thank me.'_ She thought before returning to her work.

Back in their room, Naruto set down a very happy Sakura.

"Hey, Kurama! We have news for you!" Sakura called.

Said fox walked out of Naruto's bedroom and yawned. **"Well, what is it? I didn't even have time to fall asleep."**

"We're pregnant!" Naruto declared.

 **"That's great news, and your girlfriend is taking it surprisingly well too."** Kurama joked.

Sakura just laughed, while Naruto didn't understand. "Trust me, Kurama. I'm just surprised Naruto is taking it as well as he is."

 **"Well he was always a few kits shy of a full litter."**

"Gee... I wonder why that is..." Naruto said scornfully.

"That's enough, you two." Sakura giggled. "Kurama, Naruto's old room can be yours if you want. Probably a good idea since we're going to... uh... celebrate."

 **"Oh right, 'celebrate,' you know some couples take a break after getting themselves pregnant after dating for a week. Instead, you two decide that the best thing to do afterwards is to mate some more."** Kurama teased.

"Well, we're not most couples." Sakura pointed out.

 **"True enough."** Kurama smirked. He turned around to leave his two...I guess he could call them friends, to it. **"I'll be in my new room. Call me when we land on a planet with giant vixens I can mount."** He walked into Naruto's old room and the door closed behind his. The last thing the two lovers saw of him was his bushy tails waving behind him.

"Kurama does have a point." Naruto said. "We've been having sex almost every day, sometimes several times a day. I don't know about you, but my dick has been rubbed kinda raw."

"Yea I understand. I get kinda sensitive after a while of doing it. It's just that... Before you, I was sexually deprived. Now, I just can't get enough, you know?" Sakura said.

"I get you. But even Kurama's stamina has limits. That doesn't mean I won't give you all I've got. But I wouldn't say no to cuddling every once in a while either, ya know?" Naruto rubbed Sakura's arms up and down.

"That sounds just fine to me." Sakura said with a smile. She then walked over to the computer on the desk and pressed a button. "Computer. Play 20th century film, Contact." Sakura stated. "I found out from Troi that we can actually watch Earth movies through our computer tablet."

"Cool. What's this one about?" Naruto asked as he plopped down on the couch.

"She said it was a science fiction movie with some romance." Sakura said as she sat on Naruto's lap and let him wrap his arms around her. "A woman tries to find her father through space and time using a dimensional gate of some kind. I figured it was worth watching."

"Huh, any action?" Naruto asked, rubbing Sakura's back in a soothing motion.

"I don't know. Haven't seen it."

Naruto kissed her neck. "Well we'll have to just watch it then won't we?" He teased as he nipped at Sakura's skin.

"Uhn... Don't do that... You know that's one of my spots..." Sakura moaned.

"That's why I'm doing it." He whispered husky like.

"I thought we agreed that we were just going to cuddle on the couch?"

Naruto smirked. "We are." His hand snaked down Sakura's backside. Feeling her every curve through her uniform.

Sakura moaned further into pleasure. "This is foreplay... you ass... oh god..."

"It's a really fun kind of cuddling. Now shush, you don't want to miss the movie do you?" Naruto whispered as the opening credits finished and Naruto got a handful of Sakura's cute little bottom.

Sakura bit her lower lip as Naruto's hands explored. _'Mmmm... I love it when he gets so dominant.'_ Sakura thought.

"You can do whatever you want... Just stay away from my kitty..." Sakura said in a sultry tone.

"I wasn't asking." Naruto whispered in a husky voice.

 _'Kitty?'_ He thought to himself.

 _ **'She means clitoris.'**_ Kurama replied via their mental link.

 _'Oh... Well damn. You might want to stay out of the living room by the way.'_

 _ **'Yea I figured you two weren't gonna make it through that movie. Oh well.'**_

 _'Hey this is just cuddling.'_ He replied as rubbed Sakura's behind up and down.

 _ **'Yea, sure it is...'**_

 _'It is. I swear to you; my penis will not enter her vagina tonight.'_ Naruto swore as he gave little butterfly kisses to Sakura's jaw.

 _ **'We'll see...'**_

"Uhn... Stop... Please before I rape your ass..." Sakura moaned.

"Sorry Sakura. We're taking the night off tonight." Naruto said, wiggling his fingers in just the right way to make Sakura gasp.

"UHHHM! Mmmm..." Sakura cried out as she started grinding Naruto's lap. "Y-you're driving me c-crazy..."

"Oh don't you worry, Sakura-chan. I plan on getting you off. I might even let you get me off. But this dick...this is off limits tonight." Naruto took his other hand and snaked it down Sakura's front, cupping her right breast through her uniform. Sakura might still complain that they were too small for her liking, but Naruto would always defend them. To him, they were the perfect size, just right to fill his hands.

"...Foreplay only, huh...? Strangely... I can live with that..." Sakura whimpered.

"I told you I would never leave you unsatisfied. And you know how I am about keeping promises." He breathed on her neck. His right hand twisting her nipple.

"MMMmmm... One of the many... reasons I love you..." Sakura moaned as she unzipped her top.

Naruto then re-zipped it back up. "Uh ah, not so fast Sakura-chan. We gotta get through the movie first." He said as his arm trailed down her abdomen.

"I'm sweating in this damn uniform... I still have underwear on..."

"Trust me Sakura-chan, I'm no better off. Hearing you moan and groan like that. Those little whispers you make only for me...I'm pitching a tent something fierce...but we've gotta learn some self-control. Don't you agree?" He said as his hand cupped Sakura's folds through her pants.

Sakura let out a moan of sheer pleasure as she began to grind on Naruto's hand. "Fuck self-control when you're making me this horny..."

Naruto then released his hands from Sakura. Leaving her hung out to dry while he began actually watching the movie.

Sakura let out a sigh. "Thank you..." Sakura said as she kissed his cheek.

Then Sakura grabbed his junk through his pants. "But I didn't say you could stop, now did I? Forget the movie for now... I'm dripping right now and you know what that means..."

Naruto took one look at Sakura, all hunched over his junk and begging for more, and he laughed.

"And what is so funny..."

Without any indication, Naruto pounced on Sakura again, this time slipping his hand directly into Sakura's pants, but not deep enough that there was still a layer of underwear between his fingers and her folds. Sakura buckled under this new wave of pleasure.

"I was just thinking about the guys back home. You know; Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, and the others... Before we left, even before the 4th war started, we would have these guy's night out..." Naruto began. Sakura was forced to listen to his story as he rubbed her through her panties.

"Oh god... A-and...?" Sakura moaned.

"Well we would meet up, grab a bite to eat, play some cards. You know, typical guy stuff... Oh yeah, and we talked about you girls." He admitted as he massaged Sakura's back with his free hand.

"We'd spend hours comparing you girls. Our teammates from our genin years and from other missions we'd taken. Who was best, who was prettiest, who we'd want to bang or marry. The usual stuff..."

"Something else we'd do is compare what I'd be like if one of us got with any of you. Ya know? Shikamaru with Ino, Shino with Hinata, Kiba with Tenten... My absolute favorite discussion though, was me with you..." Naruto said as he nipped Sakura's neck again.

"Mmm... What do you mean?"

"Oh you know..." He said pressing his fingers in deeper, Sakura could almost feel their shape through the fabric of her underwear.

"But what I find so funny is that every time the idea came up of me ending up with you, the guys all had this idea that you would be the one wearing the pants in the relationship all the time. That I would let you walk all over me... And I can't help but wonder what they would say if they could see you now... Gasping for air, all sweaty, desperate for release, and all at the whim of my fingertips." His finger slipped past her underwear and Sakura's breath hitched.

Sakura's legs began to quiver as Naruto's fingers went deeper and her juices drenched his digits.

Sakura kept moaning in pleasure as she grinded against Naruto's fingers. He was very close and Naruto kept digging deeper.

"...I-I need to... get my pants... off... quick..." Sakura begged.

"No Sakura, come on, just a little longer, you can do it." He instructed sensually.

"N-no... I...I... I'm CUMMING!" Sakura shouted as she sprayed all over Naruto's hand and in her pants.

Sakura breathed heavily as her climax ended. Then the reality of the situation kicked in and she got mad.

"You asshole!" She shouted as she yanked Naruto's hand out of her pants. "I TOLD you I needed to get my pants off! Now I look like I pissed myself!"

"Oh come on Sakura, who's gonna know? Just throw them in the wash." He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her in close.

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "So are the other pairs of pants I have. This was supposed to last me until tomorrow and now I can't WEAR them and I have duty at 0600!"

Naruto's eyes went wide; shit he hadn't thought about that.

"Pause movie." He commanded.

"Alright, well there has got to be some kind of fancy high tech washing machine around here somewhere right?" He rationalized.

"My laundry is already in the wash but its preprogrammed for 2 DAYS FROM NOW!"

"Two days?! What kind of washing machine takes two days?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura wrenched Naruto's hands from her waist and removed her pants and panties. She went into her room and put them in the laundry slot. "Computer. change wash time to now. I need them sooner than expected."

"AFFIRMATIVE. CYCLE WILL COMPLETE IN TWO HOURS." The computer stated. Sakura then walked over to her dresser and saw that she had no sweat pants or panties.

"Fucking great..." Sakura sighed. Sakura opened another drawer and pulled out a pair of Naruto's boxers and put them on. She removed the top of her uniform and left her room. "I had it reprogrammed to run now. It will be done in a few hours..."

She saw that Naruto wasn't even listening to her, he was staring at her, specifically at her lower region.

"What?" Sakura looked down at what Naruto was looking at. "I had no underwear left so I took a pair of yours. You owe me anyway..."

"I know... I guess I just like seeing you in my underwear. It looks good on you." He admitted, not taking his eyes off of her as she crossed her legs.

"They're... comfortable, actually..." Sakura said. Her hormones were slowly taking over her anger.

"Yeah, nice and breezy I hope." Naruto absent-mindedly commented.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked as she absentmindedly crossed her legs.

"I don't know. I just like seeing you in my boxers." Naruto repeated. "You look sexy as fuck in my boxers..."

Sakura looked at Naruto. She could see the tent he was pitching and she smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a Mk-3 phaser rifle in your pants, or are you just glad to see me?" Sakura teased.

"Oh I'm always glad to see you Sakura-chan."

"Mmmhmm..." Sakura said as she reached over and gave Naruto's member a firm squeeze through his pants. Hard enough to make him yelp in pain. She got right into his face with an evil glower. "The next time you make me cum in my pants, I will take you by mister happy here and hang you by him... Clear?"

"Crystal." He squeaked out, like a little mouse on the palm of her hand. Oh how the tables had turned.

"Good." Sakura smiled as she released his member.

She then turned around intentionally to give Naruto a brief view of her boxer covered tush before she sat down on the couched and laid her head on Naruto's lap.

"Let's start the movie again, huh?"

"Computer, resume movie." Naruto ordered and the movie played from its previous moment.

Sakura curled up closer to Naruto, who stroked her hair.

Sakura let out a content sigh. She was in the strong arms of the man she loved who also happened to be the hero of Element and the Hero of the Enterprise and to a long thought extinct alien race. To think that this was the same goofball she laid eyes on back when they were kids. Now he's a hero with strength second to no one. A noble, peaceful man with a loving heart of gold. She was also carrying said man's child which made her even happier. This was the happiest she had been in a long time and she hoped that it would never end.

"Something wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nope... I'm just happy is all. Happier than I have been in a very long time." Sakura said softly.

Naruto rubbed her shoulders and smiled.

"Me too."

"That's good because things are going to get pretty miserable for the both of us starting in a few weeks." Sakura deadpanned.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"The early stages of pregnancy. I start in with violent morning sickness, then it moves onto uncontrollable mood swings and odd food cravings. The mood swings and odd cravings will continue until the end of my third trimester. Then after the baby is born, we will be looking at a lot of sleepless nights as she baby gets acclimated to life outside of my womb and need constant 24/7 attention." Sakura listed off, which made Naruto sweat drop.

"And I thought the 5-year SS-class mission was gonna be bad. This sounds way tougher."

"Oh yes. Taking care of a child is no simple task. This will be far more challenging than defeating the 10 tails." Sakura said softly.

"Well in that case it'll be a good thing that you'll be there to keep my heart beating when our son decides to rip Kurama out of me for putting him to bed too early." Naruto joked.

Sakura laughed. "You're such a dick, you know that?"

"Last I checked." He smiled. "And you're such a vagina. But we go together, ya know?"

Sakura laughed again. "That we do."

Sakura's hand was soon found messaging Naruto's manhood; the same way Naruto was pleasing Sakura at this moment as his hand made its way between her legs.

"You seem a little eager, you trying to get me off first?" Naruto smirked.

"You already got me off." Sakura pointed out.

"And I can still get you off again before you finish me off." Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"We'll see about that." Sakura proclaimed as she yanked Naruto's pants down to reveal his throbbing member.

 _'Definitely not a phaser rifle.'_ Inner Sakura commented.

She then started stroking him vigorously as she sat up to reveal a wet spot on Naruto's boxers as her juices ran down her legs. This sight was so intense that Naruto was about to blow.

 _'No! I'm not going down that easily.'_ He thought sternly. He tried frantically to keep his mind preoccupied so he wouldn't blow his load first.

 _'Old lady with her shirt off...old lady with her shirt off...Baa-chan... shit no! Something else-ah...Bushy Brow's eyebrows...yeah that...in his ugly green spandex...now with his shirt off - no wait that's worse!'_

Sensing Naruto's desperation, Sakura went for the jugular. With a free hand, she took one of Naruto's and slid it down the waist band of her shorts and slid it across her wet woman hood.

"I'm always eager for you... Naruto..." Sakura said in a low and sultry tone.

That did it.

"Oh God l, SAKURAAAAA!" He shouted as he convulsed right there on the couch. From her touch he shot rope after rope of cum out like a geyser. His twitches alone were making Sakura extremely wet. To see that she could reduce the most powerful man in the world to a shuddering mess. God did she feel powerful.

Almost every rope he shot out landed on her exposed tits and her face, one almost getting her in the eye. She just smiled and laughed.

"I win!" Sakura cheered as she rubbed herself with one hand and licked off some of Naruto's semen with another.

Naruto gasped and wheezed, feeling like he had just run a mile with Rock Lee's ankle weights.

"Ok fine, you win...Whew..."

 _'Still feels like I won though.'_ Naruto mentally smirked as he looked up at Sakura's face covered in his seed.

"No wonder there was so many sperm cells left alive inside me with the amount to just shot out." Sakura laughed.

She stood up long enough to shed her boxers. "Now the real fun begins." Sakura said as she got ready to plop down on his still firm member.

Naruto held her back. "Sakura-chan, I said no."

"I don't care. I need you in me worse than bad and I know that you can't resist plowing my ass."

"And I said no." Naruto said firmly.

Sakura went wide eyed and gasped in shock. He was never that firm with her in this regard and now she was feeling rejected and sad.

"...No...? But... Why?" Sakura asked hesitantly, hurt evident in her tone.

"Because we both need to learn to show restraint..." Naruto explained, hurt evident in his own voice that he didn't enjoy having to be the mature one on this anymore than she did.

Sakura sighed and looked down in shame. "You're right... I'm sorry."

Naruto felt devastated when he saw the look on Sakura's face.

"I DON'T WANT TO!" He blurted out. "I-I mean I want to... make love to you every chance I get. I've always wanted too..." Naruto tried to explain, but it was clear by the look on Sakura's face that she was still having a hard time understanding him.

"Pervy Sage always told me about stuff being too much of a good thing. You know, booze, money, sex..."

"I know... But you're right. We need to have a cut-off point. This relationship needs to be based on more than just sex every waking moment. It's evident that we have very strong chemistry, we always did now that I think about it. The problem is, I always ignored it or refused to take it as the truth. Now I'm pushing it aside for sex. Really, really, REALLY amazing sex, but a relationship shouldn't be based on that alone. And now with a baby on the way..." Sakura paused and looked up. "We need to start taking things more seriously and not like a pair of hormonal teenagers. We're past that point."

"Yeah. But more than just that. I'm worried that if we keep doing it constantly, like we've been doing, it'll get boring. It won't be special anymore and Sakura-chan I want it to be special with you... Always." Naruto explained further, the desperation to fight against his baser instincts could be seen bubbling just below the surface.

"The week I've spent with you... I've felt more alive with you than I have been in three years that I spent with Hinata... I don't want to screw up this relationship...not for anything."

"I know." Sakura whispered out as she laid down on her lover. "I'm the same way. I feel more alive now than I ever did with Sasuke and I want it to last forever..."

Naruto kissed her on the forehead. "We'll just have to be content with the rest of our lives…" He whispered. The both of them sighed and contently drifted off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: The Needs of the One

**Author's Note from samuraipanda85: First ever major time skip happening this chapter. We moved ahead a whole 3 weeks. So we are now a month into Naruto and Sakura's Five Year Mission.**

It was Monday morning and Sakura was rip shit mad.

It wasn't because she was forced to go to work so early in the day. Ever since Dr. Crusher had learned of her pregnancy she had given Sakura plenty of leeway when it came to things like showing up on time. Just so that Sakura could get used to how her pregnancy was messing with her hormones. In this case it had cranked Sakura's already short temper up to an 11. It was bad enough that Sakura had woken up to discover that Naruto wasn't in bed with her to cuddle and bring her peanut butter fish sticks, but then he had the audacity to leave the top cabinet drawer open for Sakura to see.

' _That Ass! How many times have I told him to clean up around here?!'_ Sakura thought. She had been so lenient with the adorable blond dumbass, but no more!

She stormed right out of the sliding door to see Naruto standing over the computer console.

"Naruto Uzumaki! You've got some nerve!" She shouted. The boy in question turned around with a look of horror on his face when he realized how pissed off Sakura was with him. About what, he didn't know.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok?" He tentatively asked, careful not to push her buttons.

"No I'm not! I'm bloated, I'm tired, I'm getting fat! Nobody loves me and it's all your fault! What have you got to say for yourself, dumbass!?" She shouted.

Naruto opened his mouth to try to reply, but he was immediately cut off by Sakura.

"NO EXCUSES!" She yelled as she aimed a chakra enhanced punch directly at Naruto's face.

Instead of just taking the abuse and being rocketed into the vacuum of space, Naruto caught Sakura's monster strength punch with his right hand. A miniature shockwave rang out as the unstoppable force met the immovable object.

Sakura just looked at her fist in confusion, then over to Naruto who was standing tall over her and not caved into the side of the wall.

"Did you just block my attack?" Sakura hissed like a lit stick of dynamite. Under normal circumstances Naruto would have already replaced himself with a Shadow Clone and legged it to the opposite side of the spaceship. But today was different, today he wasn't going to simply take her abuse. He looked at her with a serious expression, the kind he reserved to only his greatest opponents that he would not back down.

"Yes I did." He said firmly.

"Oh you did huh?" She replied back.

"Yes I did. What are you going to do about it?"

"What am I going to do about it?"

"Yes, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll TELL you what I'm going to do about it!"

"So do it!" He raved.

She grabbed his shirt in both her iron clad grips and ripped his uniform in two, straight down the middle.

"Pants. Off. Now..." Sakura demanded in almost a feral like growl.

"Sakura-chan, we can't..."

 _ **'Woah... Never seen her like that before.'**_ Kurama thought in fear.

 _'Neither have I, it's scaring me.'_ Naruto thought.

"Don't give me that bullshit. I said take them off..." Sakura demanded again in the same growl. Her eyes changing color from green to blue for the briefest of moments.

 _'The Hell was that?'_ Naruto asked in surprise and fear.

 _ **'Damned if I know. Your mother was never this menacing during mood swings. Best do what she says, lest we become heads on a pike.'**_

"No Sakura, we really can't." Naruto insisted, holding Sakura back at arm's length.

"Why...?"

"Because we're standing in the middle of the bridge."

Sakura stopped in her thoughts as she looked around and saw that Naruto was right. All eyes were on here as rage was slowly replaced with embarrassment, then horror, then shame.

Riker smirked at the couple like he was eager to see more. Data looked more interested in the fascinating flying patterns of a nearby fly. Worf nodded in approval at what he thought was a strong warrior pairing. And Picard looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

Naruto however beat him to the punch.

"Well someone is obviously suffering from pregnancy brain. I'll just escort Sakura-chan here back to our room so she can lie down." Naruto hastily explained before teleporting himself and Sakura back to their living quarters via Thunder God jutsu.

"Wait!" Picard barked but was too late. "Riker you have the bridge..." Picard growled as he made his way to the turbo lift. He entered it and firmly stated his destination and the doors closed.

As Picard descended to the lower decks, he was stewing in his thoughts. mostly about Sakura's actions. How dare someone come onto his bridge and act like that?! And an ensign of all people and HIS supposed body guard! Sakura had a lot of owning up to do, but he had to do it calmly. He took a few deep breaths to calm his temper to a minor simmer. The turbo lift halted and the doors opened.

Briskly he made his way down the hall, not stopping to converse with the nameless ensign that saluted him as he walked by. Upon arriving at Ensign Uzumaki and Ensign Haruno's quarters he once again paused to steady himself before entering.

...smack...

He heard something, something muffled coming from the other side of the door.

 _'What is that?'_ Picard thought.

Unable to resist curiosity, he pressed his ear to the door.

SMACK!

He heard it again, but louder, and... something else being said.

"...oh God, Naruto..." SMACK!

 _'What the hell?! Is Naruto beating Sakura?!'_ Picard thought in fear.

Hastily, Picard opened the sliding doors and burst into the room.

"What's going on here?!" He shouted, fearing that he had stumbled upon a domestic dispute.

What he saw instead was much more disturbing for him.

Bent over the kitchen table with her butt sticking high up into the air was Sakura. Her hands clutching the counter as if to hold on for dear life. Naruto facing away from Picard and was standing over Sakura in such a commanding way that Picard had seldom seen expressed by Naruto via body language. It was clear by the positioning of Naruto's hands that he had finished taking another swipe at Sakura with his open palm. A dirty look was plastered on Sakura's face as if she was reveling in the pain that Naruto was inflicting on her.

Picard stood frozen, as if the slightest movement on his part would alert the two Ensign's to his presence.

 _'Oh my god...'_ Picard thought as he slowly back away out of the room before they noticed he was there.

Naruto was about to give Sakura another good spanking (she needed to be disciplined to control her urges more, which this round of naughty spankings was actually only reinforcing the problem rather than solving it, but Naruto had his urges too), when he noticed a third presence in their room. He quickly turned his head around to see none other than the Captain standing in his room in perfect view to see him and Sakura.

 _ **'Oh... Shit...'**_ Kurama thought.

"N-Naruto... Why did you stop?" Sakura asked in a sultry tone.

Thinking on his feet, Naruto signaled Picard to keep quiet no matter what. In his eyes Picard could see that this was a life or death bro favor moment.

Naruto then tore a strip of fabric off from his sleeve and wrapped it around Sakura's head like a blindfold.

"Nothing Sakura-chan." He whispered in a husky voice that sent shivers down Sakura's backside. "Go wait for me in the bedroom. Keep the blindfold on." He rubbed her bottom affectionately, which was only a tiny bit awkward when he was under the gaze of his commanding officer and target he and Sakura were supposed to be guarding.

Picard stood as he watched Sakura feel her way into their bedroom and the automatic door closed.

"Naruto, my sincere apologies." Picard started. "I heard smacking and though that you... we're attacking her..." Picard said hesitantly and quietly.

"Heheh, yeah no. I would never harm Sakura-chan intentionally. At least not...ya know, in that way..." Naruto said trying to laugh the whole thing off, but it was clear that the cloud of awkwardness was too thick to be cut by his sharp wit this time.

"I understand. I, uh... Will give you two an hour to, uh, take care of things. After that, I want Sakura to report immediately to my ready room. Her conduct on the bridge was intolerable." Picard said sternly, yet quietly.

"Narutoooo? What's taking you so looong?" Sakura sang through the closed door.

Naruto was torn; he wanted to argue in Sakura's defense right then and there, but his façade could only last him as long as it took Sakura to enhance her hearing with chakra and discover that she had indeed made a spectacle of herself in front of their boss, again. In the end he silently nodded to Picard in agreement.

Picard nodded back and turned on a heel and left Naruto and Sakura to their own devices.

* * *

Sakura lay content on Naruto's lap, an hour of his kinky foreplay had drained her until she was so tired, yet soooooo satisfied.

Naruto stroked his fingers through her hair, it felt so silky smooth to him. He dreaded telling Sakura about her hearing but he knew the consequences would be worse for the both of them if she was late.

Naruto, being the clever fox that he was (Kurama snorted) Naruto pretended to check his PDA he kept on his bedside table as if he had just received a message.

"Sakura-chan...?" He whispered in a concerned tone.

"Mmmm?" Sakura hummed in a content tone.

"I just got a message from Picard. It says you need to report to his ready room immediately for a disciplinary hearing." He said, letting his disbelief and outrage slip into his words.

At that, Sakura's mind was brought back to her moment on the bridge earlier and a wave of utter embarrassment washed over her.

"Oh goooood..." Sakura groaned as she covered her face with her hands. "I still can't believe that happened. He's probably really pissed off."

"Yeah, that kinda was a little over the top..." Naruto admitted.

Sakura elbowed Naruto in what she thought was his gut, but the high pitched squeal revealed that it was his nuts and her eyes widened in horrer as she flipped over to see Naruto holding onto his jewels.

"Oh my God! I'm sorry, sweetie! I didn't mean it!"

"Its fine...(cough), you're going through mood swings right? This is to be expected and I'm far too used to it by now." He replied while nursing his junk.

"Yea, but I meant to hit you in the gut, not your nuts!" Sakura screeched as she moved Naruto's hands away and held onto his area with her mystic palm jutsu. The warming effect of Sakura's Chakra was enough to dull the pain and relax the whimpering man.

"Oh man that feels good... Thanks Sakura." He sighed, his nuts now feeling as good as new, plus a little bit tingly.

Sakura pulled her hand away and kissed her man on the cheek. "I'm really, really sorry. But your boys are fine."

"All thanks to you." He smiled, never mind that she had endangered his boys in the first place, but Naruto was nothing if not forgiving.

"Now about your hearing thing, its bullshit."

"Well, I need to own up to my own actions regardless." Sakura sighed as she swung her bare legs off the bed and stood up.

"Let me come with you. I'm sure with both our testimonies they'll realize this was all a misunderstanding and we can sweep this under the rug."

"Naruto, the last thing I need is someone coming up with excuses. The only one in control of me is me and I need to be in better control of my emotions, especially if we were in an emergency situation like we were at that Khitomer settlement."

"Ok, then how about for moral support? I can just stand right beside you and not say a word. I swear." He said, wanting Sakura to know that this time would be different from all the other times he had spoken out of turn against a superior officer.

Sakura let out a sigh as she pulled up a thong she had replicated for Naruto's viewing pleasure. "My guess is he will want to speak with me alone. If that's the case, you wait on the bridge and don't say a word." Sakura commanded as she put on a rather lacy bra. Again, something she got for Naruto.

"Ok then..." He said dejected at having to stand on the sidelines. He stood up and changed into a uniform that didn't smell like Sakura. That was still a scent he wanted to keep to himself. Plus, he very much doubt Picard would approve of him smelling like sex while on duty.

Once they were both dressed, they made their way back to the bridge, were Riker was sitting in the captain's chair.

"Sakura, Captain Picard-"

"I know..." Sakura said softly and Riker nodded.

Sakura made her way to the door leading to the adjacent room as Naruto trailed behind her.

Sakura pressed a button the keypad next to the door that was the bell.

"Come!" Picard said within his room. The door opened and the two shinobi entered. Picard looked up from his pad to see a nervous Sakura and a rather irritated Naruto.

"Ensign Haruno. Take a seat." Picard said sternly.

Without saying a word, Sakura took a seat in front or the Captain's desk.

"Ensign Uzumaki. You do not need to be in here." Picard said.

"With respect sir, I want to be here." Naruto replied in his most respectful tone. He made sure to stand at attention as to not seem insubordinate.

"Very well, but what is said in here, remains in here. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." Naruto replied. He stood back in the corner near the door where he could observe both Sakura and Picard without interfering with their discussion.

Picard nodded and then turned his attention to the pink haired doctor.

"Miss Haruno..." Picard started, which made Sakura cringe a bit. "Your conduct on my bridge earlier was anything but professional. You are expected to keep control of your emotions at all times while on duty, regardless of your current medical situation. While we are all happy for you and Naruto, that is still no excuse for behavior and conduct like you have just displayed on my bridge! If that is something you cannot handle, the you won't BE on my bridge unless in a medical emergency! Is that understood?!" Picard shouted.

Sakura bit her lip, she was so embarrassed she could scream, but that wouldn't do anyone any good. She needed to maintain her composure.

"I understand completely, and again I deeply apologize for my behavior. I don't know what came over me but it won't happen again I assure you." She said in her most monotone voice.

"For the sake of your career, it better not." Picard stated seriously. "You will receive an official reprimand on your record and you will be taken off duty for the next 4 days, starting now. Dismissed."

Naruto felt like he wanted to protest, but one look from Sakura and he kept his mouth shut. Deep down they both knew this was a battle they needed to lose. Considering how easy Sakura had gotten off.

"Mr. Uzumaki... Your conduct was reasonable considering the circumstances, but teleporting yourself and Sakura back to your quarters to avoid disciplinary action is pretty childish. As such, you are relieved from duty for the remainder of today and you will be put on the 3rd shift at 0200 hours tomorrow morning." Picard stated seriously. "Your job will be assisting Mr. Data in purging the phaser capacitors."

Three years ago, perhaps up until Naruto joined ANBU, he would have responded to Picard's disciple with whining and excuses. Even now Kurama got to listen to Naruto whining that he didn't know a thing about purging phaser whatever. But this was an older more thoughtful Naruto who knew things could only get worse if he dared to talk back to Picard. Besides it was just another day off.

"Understood sir." Naruto said saluting before turning to leave the room when a thought occurred to him.

"Sir, permission to speak."

"Please."

"Sir I have a proposal to a safety measure I could use to help ensure your safety while Sakura and myself are away from you. I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't think of it sooner." Naruto said while subconsciously rubbing the back of his neck.

This peaked Picard's interest. "Does this involve shadow clones?"

"No actually. It involves my Flying Thunder God Technique." Naruto replied as he pulled out one of his father's special kunai.

That's when Picard realized what Naruto was talking about. "You want me to carry that blade on my person, correct?"

"Nope, not even that." Naruto said with a smile, enjoying the small fun he had in keeping Picard guessing. Picard however, was getting annoyed.

"Then out with it, ensign..." Picard said with minor annoyance.

"With your permission, I'd like to place one of my Thunder God seals on you, Captain." Naruto said, finally revealing his genius plan.

"And what will this do to me when you appear near me? You have shown that this Chakra you two use has a positive effect on our systems, as hard as that is to believe."

"Well fear not, the seal is designed so that I always teleport near you, never overlapping with you. Honestly the seals act little more than a beacon for me to follow. With a little tweaking I can modify the seal so that you'll be able to alert me whenever you need my presence. You'd just have to run some chakra through the seal and I'll get a little niggle in the back of my head telling me that you need my help. Then I teleport to your side and WAM, instant bodyguard." Naruto explained.

"Only one problem with that." Sakura said, earning a confused looked from Naruto.

"I don't know how to use Chakra..." Picard said monotonously.

So much for Naruto's flawless idea.

"Well me and Sakura-chan can teach you how to make chakra. It's how to use chakra for jutsus and stuff that is tricky." Naruto reassured. "You'd only need to make chakra flow through your seal and I'll instantly know if you need me."

"Perhaps another time, ensign. I have too much to do to learn a new trick for an old dog like myself to use."

"Fair enough. Still though, if you'd like I can place the seal on you now and you can just radio me over the comms if you need me."

"I can allow that"

Naruto smiled and approached the Captain. "Alright, where would you like it and what do you want it to look like?" He asked as he cracked his fingers to get them nice and limber.

Picard rolled up his sleeve to show his forearm. "Just below my elbow and..." He then looked over to a model ship he had sitting on a stand in a corner of the room. Naruto looked over and cocked an eyebrow.

"A bit tricky, but that's why I asked Sai for all those art lessons." Naruto said as he got to work. He made the required hand signs and began tracing the actual seal calligraphy over Picard's forearm, being sure to factor in a backwards distress seal used to warn Naruto if any chakra passed through Picard's forearm. He would need to know Picard's chakra signature in order to limit the number of different chakra signatures to activate it. But Naruto figured that they wouldn't encounter too many chakra users out in space for the time being.

After a minute the initial sealing was done and Naruto began working on the illusion seal on top of the other seals. He focused on the outline of the Ship in a Bottle in his head. Simpler than trying to go for a photo-realistic look, and a lot more stylish if Naruto did say so himself.

Finally, he was done and he took his hands off of Picard's forearm to revel his newly formed tattoo.

Picard looked at the image of his former command that was on his arm and smiled. "Remarkable work... Looks just like the Stargazer."

"Thank our old teammate Sai. Before he started giving me lessons I couldn't draw for crap." Naruto replied.

"It's true." Sakura chimed in for the sake of teasing Naruto. Having fond memories of their first few art lessons they had taken together with Sai as a form of team bonding. Naruto's drawings were nothing short of atrocious.

"What's the significance of that ship if you don't mind me asking?" Sakura asked.

"The USS Stargazer was the first ship I ever commanded." Picard stated fondly. "An old Constellation class."

That made Sakura gasp. He had been doing research on the Federations Ships of the Line from its founding to now.

"But, they had so many propulsion problems! The warp cores were known to be super faulty." Sakura said in shock and Picard chuckled.

"That is true. My crew and I barely kept her running. But one day, you two will understand the significance of your first command." Picard said.

"Oh you don't have to worry about that. Sakura-chan and I have led our fair share of squads back in the Leaf." Naruto said.

"I read about the squads you commanded. It's easy to command a 5 to 10-man squad, but to lead a ship with over 400 crewmen who count on your every decision, that's something else entirely. Forget about commanding a ship with over a thousand crewmen and their families on a ship as big as the Enterprise."

This took Naruto and Sakura by surprise when they realized what Picard was saying.

"Woah, hold on, are you saying that you picture us commanding an entire ship like the Enterprise?" Naruto exclaimed. "But we're just Ensigns. Plus, we're your bodyguards for only 5 years."

"Well, that is if you two decide to continue your career in Starfleet. When you leave my ship, you will still be members of Starfleet and will be called upon if needed again. You will live among your people, living your daily lives like this all never happened. This is something the two of you can talk about at your leisure. And of course, if you wish for your friends and family to accompany you, then they may, so long as they swear complete secrecy about our existence until they develop Warp drive." Picard explained further.

"That's a lot to think about." Sakura said in awe. To be able to remain a part of Star Fleet after her and Naruto's tour of duty was up. And after only spending a month aboard the Enterprise.

"Yeah... I mean being on this ship is awesome, but I still have my dream of becoming Hokage." Naruto said.

Picard nodded. "Well, as I said, it's something to think about."

"Yes, thank you." Sakura replied while her thoughts were preoccupied with what could be.

An air of awkward silence filled the room. "Well, if that's everything, I think me and Sakura-chan will go start our punishments if that's alright with you." Naruto said.

"Very well then. Remember, Naruto. 0200 you need to be up and ready to work."

"I'll be there." He replied. "Um...where do I need to be exactly?"

"On the bridge. Since Data doesn't need sleep, he is in command of the ship during my off time."

"Data is the robot, right?" Naruto asked.

"Android, yes."

"Oh, that's not like, offensive to call him a robot is it?"

"Not to him. He has no emotions." Picard explained.

Both Naruto and Sakura snorted.

"Is something amusing to you two?" Picard inquired seriously.

"Oh its nothing (chuckles) it's just... Is Data a good painter by any chance?" Naruto asked while Sakura tried to stifle her own laughter.

"Exceptionally, why?"

"Oh nothing. I'm sure me and him will get along great." Naruto answered.

"Unless he calls you dickless." Sakura whispered so that only Naruto could hear her, which made them both burst into laughter.

"Okay, seriously. Leaving your captain out of a joke will make him wonder some things."

The two Ensigns continued to chuckle to themselves at the absurd coincidence of it all. It was too perfect.

Finally, Naruto managed to calm himself down enough to answer their Captain who was feeling more and more like a third wheel.

"Whew, sorry, it's just that we have a friend back home who is just like Data so much that's it's crazy. The guy we know is actually a human though."

"Well, then he is capable of emotion. Data isn't because he was programmed without emotions. Interestingly enough, He has achieved what any Human would dream of, and yet, he would gladly give it all up to be Human." Picard said.

Sakura then stopped laughing. "Well what did he achieve?"

"Near infinite knowledge, immortality to a point, he's damn near invincible and possibly the strongest one here."

"Heh, you know it's funny. Back in the day, our teachers back in the academy might have said that our friend Sai was exactly what every Shinobi should strive to be. And we know that he would give that up in an instant." Naruto said.

"But he's an idiot when it comes to social skills." Sakura added.

"And that is where him and Data differ. Data, for an android, is very sociable and can lighten up even the most awkward settings."

Suddenly, Sakura felt a brief sharp pain in her belly.

"OUCH!" Sakura yelped in pain.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto said quickly, his voice filled with worry.

"OW!" The same pain came and then went. "Keep getting these sharp pains in my... oh no..."

"Picard to sickbay! Medical emergency in my ready room." Picard sounded as Sakura began to panic.

"Oh no... It's not labor pains because it's too early for that! What the hell is it. OW! Dammit!" Sakura gasped.

"Sakura-chan?!" Naruto asked frantically, hoping for some instructions from her. Some insight on what to do.

Within what seemed like seconds, Dr. Crusher came in with a few nurses.

"What's the problem?" Crusher asked.

"I'm having intense short bursts of abdominal pain... I hope it's not the baby..." Sakura said in a panic as she tried to stay calm.

Crusher used her tricorder to scan Sakura's belly. What she found made her go numb.

"Well, the baby is fine so it's not that." Crusher stated, to which both Naruto and Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

"It's something potentially worse." Crusher stated.

"What is it? What's wrong with Sakura-chan?!" Naruto asked, desperation in his voice.

"She has a ruptured appendix." Crusher stated as she inoculated Sakura with a sedative hypo spray.

"A what!?" Naruto nearly shouted. Everything needed to slow down and start making sense.

"Her appendix ruptured. It's a minor organ off of the large intestine that can become infected and if bad enough can rupture and can cause major life threatening issues if we don't get her to surgery now." Crusher explained.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Naruto shouted as he scooped up Sakura into a princess carry and gunned it for the door.

"No! Wait!" Crusher called, causing Naruto to stop. "If you jostle her around too much, the infectious fluid will spread faster! Set her on the gurney." Crusher ordered.

Naruto felt like everything had stopped as he slowly looked down at the fear stricken Sakura.

"I'll be fine, Naruto. If I can survive everything we've been up against all these years, a little ruptured appendix isn't going to do anything." Sakura said in a soothing voice, it just killed Naruto that she was the one trying to calm _him_ down in this situation.

Naruto nodded. Carefully he walked over to the gurney as quickly as his feet would allow. Careful not to bounce Sakura too much like she was the Holy Grail filled to the brim with waters from the Fountain of Youth.

He set her in the gurney as softly as he could and he looked on with a feeling of dread as he saw Sakura smiling weakly at him.

"I'll be okay. I've been through worse than this." Sakura said softly.

Naruto took her hand in his own and squeezed it tight. "So have I, and I know you'd still be worried sick if it was me." Naruto said. He couldn't help but fantasize that if the tables were indeed turn he knew that Sakura as a doctor would know what to do. He however, was clueless in this situation. What was there for him to do that didn't require brute force?

"You're right, I would. But, I'm telling you to not worry. back home, my mortality rate would be 80% at this point." Sakura pointed out, which made Naruto turn white as a sheet. "But here..."

"It's about 5%." Crusher interjected.

Naruto breathed a shaky sigh of relief. "Holy shit..." He whispered as he looked down at the floor.

"Now let's go." Crusher ordered and moved out of Picard's ready room and then to the turbo lift.

Naruto kept squeezing Sakura's hand as tight as he could, determined to keep her company as long as he could.

"Deck 12." Crusher ordered as the turbo lift doors closed.

Naruto took deep breaths as the lift zoomed them to their destination, his other hand steadying himself on the gurney. That's when he felt a soothing sensation coming from his right hand. He looked down to see that it was Sakura, whose thumb was gently tracing circles around the back of Naruto's hand. They were on their way to the emergency room to save Sakura's life, and she was trying to calm HIM down?

"Please try to relax Naruto. Everything is okay..." Sakura said, tired from the sedative that was kicking in.

"Sakura-chan..." He said softly, ashamed of himself.

He was brought out of his thoughts then the turbo lift doors opened and everyone piled out.

"Take her to med lab 3." Crusher ordered. "Naruto, remain here."

"But..."

"It's alright." Crusher assured. Then something came to her mind that she wanted to let them know a while ago. "Would you like to know the sex of your child? It's been long enough for the fetus to develop that we can determine the sex."

"This isn't the time!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Just relax okay? The procedure will take no more than 10 minutes. Go sit in the waiting room and make yourself a cup of coffee. I'll be right back." Crusher stated softly before walking away, but not before stopping to say one last thing. "It's a girl, by the way." Crusher stated and then continued on her way to med lab 3.

Naruto was left there in the waiting room with nothing but Picard and the knowledge that his firstborn would be a girl.

"A-a girl?"

 _ **'Guess my initial scent was off.'**_ Kurama thought.

Naruto slumped into the nearest chair.

"A girl..." He repeated.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Picard asked.

The whiskered blond didn't answer Picard for at least 10 seconds.

"It just now sunk in that Sakura-chan is pregnant." Naruto said, his tone barely above a whisper.

Picard put a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Sakura is going to be fine. Beverly is one of the top doctors in the Federation."

Naruto nodded, he already knew that of course. Sakura had said about as much in her long evening talks about her new job as Dr. Crusher's number 2 ever since they had joined Star Fleet.

"I know, I guess I'm just...extra nervous now about Sakura's safety, ya know. I can't explain it. Like I've always cared about her. But now it's like, 100x more worrying."

"You're afraid that now that you have her, you're afraid to lose her and the child you two have made." Picard deduced.

"...Yeah...yeah that's gotta be it..." Naruto said simply. He didn't respond again and Picard just let him have his silence for a bit. Somehow he knew instinctively that Naruto wasn't finished. And a minute later he was proven right.

"...I never had a family growing up." Naruto admitted. "I was an orphan. I still am I guess."

 _ **'What the hell am I, Kit? Yea I mean, we haven't seen eye to eye until recently, But I've always been here.'**_ Kurama protested.

 _'Let's not go there, huh?'_ Naruto thought. It was true he had come to view Kurama as a friend. It was hard to classify their relationship. Kurama was more than a pet, but Naruto couldn't quite think of him as a brother.

"No you're not." Picard stated. "Once you became part of the crew of the Enterprise, you became part of her family, you and Sakura both." Picard reasoned.

Naruto smiled at being told he was a part of someone's family.

"Yeah, it's exactly like it is with the guys back home. All my friends and teammates I've come to think of as family. Team 7 especially. But I've never really gotten to enjoy having family members that look like me, ya know?" Naruto said as he thought of all the fun times he had with the guys, the wacky adventures they had gone on.

"Like I look at Sakura-chan and her family. You see a few people with her hair color or her eyes. People that act like her in tiny little ways. And I'm jealous." He admitted.

"Hearing from Crusher that me and Sakura-chan are going to have a baby girl. It made me realize that in a few months I'm going to be a daddy to a little girl that's half me..." Naruto rambled on while fantasizing about the future.

"I wonder what she'll look like... Will she have blonde hair and green eyes or pink hair and blue eyes? Which would be better? I'd definitely want her to have Sakura-chan's forehead. It would be the cutest thing... Would she have my whiskers? Would she be a bit of a brat like I was? Smart like Sakura-chan? She'd be nice though right?" He wondered fondly.

Picard chuckled. "Okay, okay. Well, as soon as Sakura is out, we have holographic projectors that can create an image of the newborn once it reaches full maturity."

Naruto smiled and began to relax. Not long after that, Crusher emerged through the waiting room doors with a smile on her face.

"The operation was a complete success. Sakura and the baby are in good health." Crusher said happily, much to Naruto's joy.

"Oh thank God, that is such a relief." Naruto sighed, his chest felt a thousand times lighter.

"She is resting comfortably now. I can wake her if you want." Crusher said.

"No that's ok. If I could just stand beside her, that would be enough..." Naruto said hesitantly in case he was denied.

"Sure. I have a chair set up by her bedside." Crusher stated with a warm smile.

Naruto muttered a thank you and wandered his way into Sakura's room. There he saw her resting peacefully amongst the clean white sheets. Her Bob cut hair sprayed across the pillow as if to highlight her head which looked as peaceful as Naruto had ever seen it. He could tell she was in a deep sleep by her light snoring which he always found so cute.

Naruto walked over to her bedside and casually parted a stray lock of her pink hair away from her charming forehead he loved so much. There, right on her diamond seal, he planted a quick peck on her forehead. His lips felt her warmth and he knew that she was ok.

 _ **'You know, I used to hate you humans...'**_ Kurama started _ **. 'But seeing what other humans are capable in terms of technology and medical science by fixing what would have been a near fatal incident, I have restored faith in your kind.'**_

 _'I thought that was me who restored your faith? With my unshakable convictions and never give up attitude.'_

 _ **'That was only a small part of it. Which begs the question; How are their humans on two different homeworlds?'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'What does it matter? Maybe our planet's ecosystems were so similar that they produced similar species to best adapt and thrive?'_ Naruto thought.

Kurama paused in astonishment that the infamous idiot could put together such an intelligent sounding statement.

 _ **'Wow... That's... Actually a reasonable theory. Shocker coming from you, no offense.'**_

 _'Hey, I listen every now and again. What's more shocking is that you care about insulting my intelligence. That's usually free game for you.'_

 _ **'I hate to say it, but I think Sakura is mellowing me out...'**_ Kurama said with slight embarrassment.

 _'Seriously. I never thought the day would come that you would serve her drinks like that. And people says she's got me whipped.'_ Naruto smirked as he continued to rub circles in Sakura's hand just as she had done for him not a half an hour ago.

 _ **'I honestly don't know what it is. When she's around me, I feel powerless to her charms. I can see how you fell for her so quickly.'**_

 _'She's just so cute and sweet.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'Like a cherry blossom tree you could rest beneath.'**_ Kurama summarized.

Both Naruto and Kurama froze as they realized what they just did.

 _ **'Did we just start thinking of poetry?'**_

 _'I mean it didn't rhyme so it doesn't count right?'_

 _ **'It kinda did at the ends.'**_

 _'Sweet and beneath don't rhyme.'_

 _ **'Yes they do! I take back what I said earlier. You are dumb.'**_

 _'Well I still get to bang Sakura. The most you'll ever be to her is a pet.'_ Naruto smirked.

 _ **'Fuck you! Who was it who asked me to be in a threesome with her not that long ago?'**_

 _'Not me and not ever! So suck on that!'_

"Naruto..." Naruto heard outside of his mind.

Instantly both the man and the beast's attention was focused on their lady love.

"Sakura-chan, I'm here." Naruto said immediately to reassure Sakura.

"You're crushing my hand..." Sakura deadpanned.

Naruto looked down and noticed that he was indeed still gripping Sakura's hand like her life depended on it and was in fact hurting her. He quickly loosened his grip.

"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry Sakura-chan! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

Sakura lifted up her and flexed her fingers, cracking with every movement like she would pop her joints. "Eh... No harm done. Just kinda surprised me is all."

"You scared me Sakura-chan." Naruto admitted. "I can't recall the last time I've ever been so scared."

"Well, had we been at home instead of on a highly advanced ship with equally advanced medical technology, I probably would have come out of that a lot worse than I am." Sakura said softly. "But, I'm okay. I was asleep the whole time and didn't feel a thing."

"Yeah but... It happened so quickly. I didn't know what to do. If this had happened anywhere else..." He rambled on again.

"Naruto, would you stop it, please?" Sakura pleaded. "Tell you what. If it makes you feel better, I'll teach you some medical ninjutsu so you won't have to worry so much."

 _ **'You had better take it Kit. That is an offer I simply won't let you-'**_

"Please do. I would at least feel better knowing I can do something." Naruto responded.

 _'You do realize that you just offered to train the legendary academic dead last in the most intellectually demanding branch of ninjutsu right?'_ Inner commented.

 _'Wait for it.'_ Sakura replied.

"In return, I want you to teach me the Rasenshuriken and help me make my own elemental version of it." Sakura added.

This perked Naruto's eyes up. "Are you sure Sakura? The Rasenshuriken is the most advanced and power form of chakra control ever created."

"And who was it that always had the better Chakra Control on our team?" She smirked.

 _ **'She's got you there, Kit. Plus, who had the worst chakra control?'**_ Kurama smiled at his little jab at his host.

 _'Shut up.'_

"Right, good point. Still though, we may need for you to use your Hundred Hand seal every time we train to help you master it before we finish guarding Picard." Naruto warned.

"Well... Knowing how hard you worked to get it, I wouldn't have expected any less for me..." Sakura sighed.

Naruto quickly caught himself. "Oh but you'll get it so much quicker than I did I bet. I'll be there to help you step by step and like you said you were always a natural at chakra control. It'll be a breeze for you."

"Well, I'm not going to hold my breath on that, but we'll see. After the baby is born, we'll start." Sakura said, reminding Naruto of what Crusher told him.

Naruto nodded and patted Sakura on the belly. In just a few short months, his daughter would be born. Naruto's very own flesh and blood.

Sakura's belly had swollen up a little. It was hard to notice, but there was a slight bump in her abdomen. Sakura laid her hand on Naruto's as he rubbed her belly.

"I wonder what our child will look like..." Sakura said softly and happily.

"I don't know. But Dr. Crusher said it would be a girl. I hope she has your cute forehead." Naruto replied as he continued to trace circles with his palm.

"A-a girl...?" Sakura cheerfully said as she looked down at her soon to be baby girl. She smiled softly as she took Naruto's hand from her belly and hugged it against her cheek. "We're going to have a baby girl! I'm so happy, Naruto."

"Me too Sakura-chan, me too." He smiled her favorite smile.


	11. Chapter 11: Preschool

"Ensign Haruno's log. Star date 42671.4.

After Naruto's daring rescue of the ship from the An - something field. And my confirmed pregnancy. We have been given a couple of days off to sort through our matters. During this time, we were invited by Mr. Johnson, who runs the pre-school aboard the Enterprise, to come and introduce ourselves to his students. Who would no doubt be fascinated by our Shinobi backgrounds. This promises to be an interesting day."

"Sakura-chan! Breakfast is ready!" Naruto called out from their living room.

"Be right here babe!" Sakura called back

Sakura saved her audio file in the log and finished putting on her Star fleet uniform. She looked herself once over in the mirror.

 _'Uniform?'_ Inner Sakura asked.

 _'Spic and span.'_ Sakura replied.

 _'Hair bangs?'_

 _'Managed.'_

 _'Lip gloss?'_

 _'Lightly applied.'_

 _'A body unworthy of our favorite idiot?'_

 _'Oh you know it, bitch.'_ Sakura smirked.

"Come on Sakura-chan! Or it'll get cold!" Naruto called again.

"Just hold on Baka, I'm getting ready!" Sakura shouted back.

 _'And last but not least...'_ Inner listed off. _'How's our little jumped-the-gun-bread-bun?'_

Sakura's hand glowed as she delicately traced it over her abdomen. As she had done so many other times with so many other mothers to be.

 _'Baking real nicely.'_

Perfect.

Finally, Sakura stepped out of her bedroom and into the living room. Where she was greeted by Naruto: with his hands on his hips, a spatula in his hand, and wearing a frilly pink apron that read, "FOXY CHEF".

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "What the hell are you wearing?! Hahahaha!"

"My favorite apron. I left it back home and the replicator was able to make me a new one." Naruto explained nonchalantly. "But the better question is what took you so long? Breakfast is getting cold. And I slaved over a hot replicator all morning to make us this spread." He stepped aside so that Sakura could see the absolute feast that beheld her.

Plates absolutely filled with a farmer's breakfast skillet. Hash browns, bacon bits, cut up sausage, red and green peppers, onions, mouthwatering piles of melted-gooey cheese, all atop scrambled eggs for Sakura and Sunnyside up eggs for Naruto. With bowls of fresh fruit on the side and glasses of orange juice for each of them.

"Oh wow! You went all out this time, huh? And here I was half expecting to see Ramen, Hasperat and Pistachio Cannoli's." Sakura said with a smile, still reeling from the shock of the spread before her.

"Well I was going to do that. But then Kurama said that females with kits needed variety for the baby. So I covered all the bases." Naruto proudly declared.

 **"More like I swatted you with my tails until you agreed to it."** Kurama said as he walked out of his room

"It did eventually come to that, yes." Naruto nodded.

"Not surprising, but it looks good regardless." Sakura said as she kissed Naruto on his cheek and sat down to dive into her breakfast.

"Now hold on a minute there! You still haven't told me what took you so long." Naruto said after snapping out of his daze after being kissed.

"I was doing my personal log and getting ready." Sakura said simply.

"Oh..." Naruto said, feeling really stupid for overreacting like that.

"Can we eat now? I'm starving!" Sakura said as her mouth watered.

"Oh, oh yeah, sure!" Naruto said cheerfully as he removed his pink apron and sat down to chow down.

 **"What about me?"** Kurama asked as his stomach growled.

Naruto had a fork full of eggs and hash browns right in his mouth when Kurama asked that.

Sighing, Naruto put his fork down and stood up to go make Kurama his own plate.

Sakura meanwhile was chowing down with gusto.

 **"I was teasing, Kit. I can make my own meal."** Kurama laughed as he got up to the replicator.

 **"What was it that Data said... Oh. Computer. Canine Supplement 49."** Kurama ordered.

"You're eating dog food?" Naruto snickered.

 **"Eh... I figured I'd give it a shot. Foxes are distant cousins of dogs after all."** Kurama countered. His time being on the ship and around Sakura has mellowed him out greatly and warmed his once cold heart.

Sakura snickered at the two boys' antics. Or boy and fox, she should say. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Kurama wait!"

 **"What?"**

"The replicator, what if the ship's computer keeps a log of what food we create? In fact, I'm almost certain it does. It'll look extremely suspicious that we replicated dog food when we aren't supposed to have pets. Or Demon foxes that normally are sealed inside one of us." Sakura stated.

"Why would that matter?" Naruto inquired.

"Well we still don't know how the crew would react to you being a jinchuriki, Naruto. And after learning about your childhood, I'm not about to take that risk. Not yet anyway." Sakura insisted.

"Actually, Counselor Troi already knows and she seems fine with it." Naruto countered.

"How do you know?"

"She told me herself. If he poses no threat to the ship, then he's fine. I had planned on taking him to the captain soon." Naruto grinned.

 **"First time I heard about that."** Kurama stated. **"Just when were you going to tell me about that?"**

"And what about the rest of the crew? The thousands of other people that will band together when faced with something they don't understand? What then?" Sakura cut off Kurama.

"I think you're overreacting a little bit, Sakura-chan. The people here are surprisingly open-minded about pretty much anything. I'm sure you've seen that."

Sakura looked Naruto dead in the eye. "You know what else I've seen? I've seen good people get ostracized by rumors and misconceptions. Spread by scared little men who didn't know any better. And I don't want it to happen to you. Not again." She said in a stern voice.

"Ok Sakura-chan... If that's how you feel, we'll keep it a secret for now." Naruto smiled. Instantly Sakura was relieved.

"Good, now let's finish eating. We've got a long day ahead of us. Kurama, eat some human food."

 **"Of the many alien races these Humans have encountered and how many are supposedly on this ship, would a large fox with nine tails that can speak their language be really that farfetched to them?"** Kurama said logically.

"Kurama, just drop it." Naruto stated, wanting to stay on Sakura's good side for this.

 **"Pfft... Whatever. Computer, disregard previous order. Instead, give me roast duck."** Kurama said in annoyance.

"Ooh, that sounds good." Naruto commented, even with half his skillet already eaten.

 **"Oh it does, doesn't it? Sakura, would you like some?"** Kurama smiled.

"Hey!" Naruto cried back.

"Nah... I'm not a duck fan. Too greasy." Sakura said.

 **"Suit yourself."** Kurama shrugged as he waited patiently by the replicator. The replicator hummed and on a large platter, a plump, juicy roasted duck appeared.

Kurama picked up the plate by his tails and set it on the floor. **"Damn, don't that smell good..."**

"You know, you can sit at the table if you want, Kurama." Sakura spoke up.

 **"Nah I'm fine."** Kurama said with a mouthful of duck.

Once they were finished eating, Sakura cleaned up the plates while Naruto took a shower. Sakura made her way over to the desk to check up on Starfleet news. As she was reading this, she was scratching Kurama behind his ears. He loved that.

 **"Mmmmmm..."** Kurama moaned, almost like purring which made Sakura giggle.

"Hard to believe you are the most fearsome demon of the Leaf village." Sakura said.

 **"Excuse me... I'm the most fearsome demon of the world...ooohh, that's the spot."**

"Yea it shows." Sakura giggled.

The two of them just sat in peaceful silence for a few moments, until Sakura worked up the courage to ask the question that had been on her mind for quite some time.

"Um..." Sakura started hesitantly. "Do you think I'll... be a good mother?"

 **"Why wouldn't you be? I mean besides your random bouts of rage. And when you answer your problems with solely with violence."**

"You're not helping..." Sakura said sadly. "I'm serious... I don't interact with children very often."

 **"What are you talking about? Kit's always ranting about how great you are with the sick kids in the hospital. Plus, the way you handled that kid the first day we came aboard this ship. Don't tell me you wouldn't be a good mother."**

"Maybe you're right... I'm just worried that I won't be a good parent, ya know?" Sakura stated.

 **"Please, I haven't a single worry about you and parenting. If anything, I'm more worried about Kit over there."** Kurama said, pointing his tail towards the shower where Naruto could be heard singing _Single Ladies_.

"I'm not really worried about him. He practically raised Konohamaru if you remember."

 **"What do you remember? He didn't raise jack. He was an older brother if anything."**

"B-but I thought-"

 **"What? That because his parents were killed and that he was really raised by his uncle and grandfather who have both been killed that Naruto, the witless wonder who has strength far beyond any ninja in history actually had the skills needed to raise a child a few years younger than himself?"**

Sakura was taken aback by Kurama's statement. He was right, right about everything.

"Oh God..." Sakura breathed out in shock.

 _'He's gonna need to learn and quick.'_ Inner thought.

Kurama sighed. **"He may not have much in the line of experience, but I know by his thoughts that he wants to be a father and his heart is in the right place. I think what he needs is a crash course on parenting, but other than that, I think he would make a good father."**

"You really think so?"

 **"Sakura. I share a permanent mental link with him and I have been inside him for 20 years. I know him better than he knows himself."** Kurama said with a toothy grin.

Sakura smiled as she renewed scratching between Kurama's ears.

"Hey Sakura-chan! When did we have to be at that preschool again?!" Naruto called from the shower.

"As soon as you're out we can leave!" Sakura called back.

That being said, Naruto made hast to finish getting ready, but waiting for his longer hair to dry was a pain in the ass.

"Hey Sakura-chan!"

"Yea?!"

"Do you think I should cut my hair?!"

"Fuck no! I love it that way!" Sakura said seriously.

"You sure? It's such a hassle sometimes."

"Welcome to my world." Sakura stated.

"Oh the curse of being beautiful." Naruto swooned and Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"Just be grateful neither one of us has Ino's hair."

"Oh yeah. That definitely wouldn't be worth it." Naruto said as he finished trying to comb his hair.

"Why do you think I kept my hair this short? I remember the hell I had to go through with it when we were kids. Never again."

"I don't know. I used to like your long hair. But your cute Bob cut has definitely grown on me."

"It was down past my ass. There were times I was sitting on my hair because me and Ino were competing on who's hair would get Sasuke's attention more. The whole rumor about him liking girls with long hair was greatly over exaggerated."

"It was also completely false. Sasuke told me one time that he preferred short hair on girls." Naruto said.

"That's what he told me as well. Another reason I kept it short. But, now I do it because it's easier to maintain."

 **"That and Starfleet only allows a certain length, or so I've read"** Kurama added.

"You read?" Naruto asked, surprised.

Kurama deadpanned. **"I'm not an idiot like you. Remember, I can see through my hosts eyes. Remember, your mother and the Old Bag's grandmother were also my hosts."**

"Oh right..." Naruto said.

"Ok you two, enough horsing around, we're gonna be late. So Kurama, get inside Naruto. And Naruto, get outside the room." Sakura ordered.

Both Naruto and Kurama nodded and Kurama disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto patted his belly.

"Good to go."

Sakura patted her belly.

"Ditto."

Naruto rubbed Sakura's belly lovingly as he felt the weak chakra of his unborn child. "I'm going to make you a promise, kid. You are gonna be welcomed into the universe with two strong and loving parents who will take care of you no matter what. A promise of a lifetime. Believe it." Naruto said happily, yet softly. To which Sakura felt like crying tears of joy. She couldn't help but smile proudly as she made a similar promise in her head.

"Alright, come on. Before your beautiful loving devotion to our unborn child makes me ruin my make-up." Sakura said as she tapped Naruto on the butt to get him to move forward.

"Wait, you're wearing make up? That's rare." Naruto said in surprise.

"I wanted to look nice in front of the kids... I guess... is that weird?"

"No, not really. It's just that... I rarely have ever seen you wear it so it surprised me is all."

"Do you like it?" She asked tentatively.

Naruto looked Sakura over with a keen eye. Eye liner, lipstick, eyelashes, mascara, Sakura did it all.

"Maybe a little bit easier on the eye liner, but otherwise, beautiful." Naruto said honestly.

Sakura blushed and planted a soft kiss on Naruto's lips. "I'll remember that for the next time. Thank you."

Naruto smiled and the two of them made their way down to the Preschool.

"What deck is this on anyway?" Naruto asked as they stepped into the Turbo lift.

"Deck 4." Sakura ordered and the doors closed. "That answer your question?" Sakura said.

"Pretty much...do you think the kids will like me?"

"Oh I'm sure they will, if the children from the Leaf are anything to go by."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, a little eager.

"I'm positive." Sakura smiled back.

"Only fools are positive..."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, hoping Naruto would fall for it.

"I'm positive... wait..."

Sakura laughed.

"Oh my god! I have tried that on a lot of people, but you were the only one to fall for it! Hahaha!"

"Yea... Laugh it up..." Naruto grumbled.

 _ **'Ha!'**_ Kurama thought.

They were brought out of their moment when the doors opened up. the two walked out and made their way to an area with a large glass window. Inside were many young children on the other side that were playing with various toys and games.

"Oh my gosh, Naruto, they look so adorable." Sakura squealed.

"Yea they do. And to think, we're gonna have one of our own!" Naruto said excitedly.

Sakura looked around at all of the children. most of them were human, but there were a few that weren't. There was a Klingon child and a child with a bowl cut hair style and pointy ears. There was another one that had no hair, blue skin, and what liked like a seam that went down the center of his head.

Naruto saw the child with the pointy ears and was instantly reminded of the Romulan ship he ravaged.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, is that kid a..."

Sakura looked at the child with pointed ears. "What?"

"Is that kid a Romulan?"

"Um... No, I don't think so. Romulans have more pronounced eyebrows." Sakura deduced. the door near them opened up and it was the teacher for the class.

"Greetings! You're Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki, right?" He asked.

Sakura and Naruto both blushed. "W-we're not married." Naruto said.

 _'Yet.'_ Inner Sakura and Kurama thought.

"Oh. My mistake. So, did you have any questions before you come in?"

"Yea I do. That boy with the pointy ears. Is he a Romulan?" Naruto asked.

"T'Pel? No, He's a Vulcan." The Teacher explained.

"A Vulcan? Oh! Like from that soup we ate! Do you remember Sakura?" Naruto asked, excited that he had made the connection.

"Soup? Oh the Plomeek soup. Yea I remember." Sakura agreed.

Sakura then noticed a small girl in the corner of the room by herself. She, too, was an alien girl to them. She looked like a regular human, but with thin ribs on the bridge of her nose.

"Who is the little girl over there?" Sakura pointed out.

"That's Sio. She is sadly an orphan. Her parents were killed by Cardassians a few years ago." The teacher said sadly.

"Aw... The poor thing..." Sakura said sadly, not noticing the equally sad look on Naruto's face.

"Yes, but thankfully the Enterprise has an excellent adolescent care facility. Parents take great comfort knowing that should anything happen to them; their children will be well taken care of." The teacher explained.

"... Is there an adoption program on board?" Naruto asked softly.

"Naruto?" Sakura said in confusion.

"I'm just curious, is all." Naruto said.

"We do have one if there are no other family members to take in an orphaned child. However, she has no family that we are aware of." The teacher responded. "Not too many people want to adopt a Bajoran being that a great many of them are part of the Maquis Rebel Alliance, who oppose Federation ideals and have been known to steal Federation ships and medical supplies."

"... I know how she feels. My parents were killed the day I was born." Naruto said sadly.

"I'm sorry for your loss, sir." The teacher said softly.

 _ **'Again, I'm sorry, Kit.'**_

 _'Don't worry about it. I'm not sad for myself, I'm sad for her.'_ Naruto replied back.

 _ **'Well you're not actually thinking of adopting her, right?'**_

 _'Not going to lie, the thought has crossed my mind and it would give Sakura-chan and I better parenting skills for when we have our child. But, I'm not sure we're ready to make that kind of commitment yet.'_ Naruto mused.

 _ **'Ok good. Let's focus on this one kit before we start deciding to raise every orphan from here to the restaurant at the end of the universe.'**_

Naruto silently agreed as he looked around the room at all of the other children playing happily.

"Are you two ready to come in?" The Teacher asked. Naruto and Sakura both nodded. "Alright then. Follow me."

The teacher led them up to the front of the class. Along the way they saw dozens of kids playing together. Some with blocks, cars, spaceships, and dolls. Others were playing with arts and crafts. There was one group in particular that was playing a game of space heroes and pirates on the classroom's mini indoor playground.

"So how many kids are there, Mister...?" Naruto asked.

"Johnson, and we have over 30 children in this class. A decent size considering the number of crew members aboard this vessel." Mr. Johnson explained.

"Take that, Romulan Scum!" A young boy shouted out. Naruto and Sakura turned their attention back towards the boys who were playing on the mini playground. Instead of it being a regular game of space cowboys and Indians, it appeared to be a reenactment of Naruto's daring invasion of the Romulan battleship. Judging by the way the boy playing Naruto was running all throughout the play structure knocking over all the other boys playing the evil Romulans and then declaring the entire plastic tower for Star Fleet.

Both the shinobi found it adorable and somewhat funny how quickly rumors spread amongst a ship. Considering that they grew up in the Leaf, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but it was still flattering how fast the children put together this play.

Naruto and Sakura followed the teacher to the front of the chalkboard and the class immediately stopped what they were doing to see the two new faces walk in.

"Class, allow me to introduce to you Ensigns Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. Sakura works closely with Dr. Crusher and Naruto works closely with Lieutenant Worf on the bridge." The teacher said happily.

"You work with my father?" The Klingon child said, earning a surprised look from both ninjas.

"Worf is your father?" Sakura asked. "I didn't know he had children. What's your name?"

"Alexander." the Klingon boy replied.

"Alexander huh? That's a strong name." Naruto commented.

"Do you have a last name?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"Roshenko after my grandparents. MY father was adopted by humans and my mother was half human." Alexander said.

"Huh, I fought your father. He damn near beat me too." Naruto said, thinking he could inspire some awe for the boy's father.

Sakura smacked him in the chest.

"Don't swear in front of the kids..." She hissed so that no one else could hear her.

"Sorry." Naruto said sheepishly.

"You're a fighter?" one of the kids said, then the two got bombarded with questions about what they could do, where they were from and if they could show off a bit.

"Of course he's a fighter, what are you, stupid?" One of the oldest boys replied to the other. "He's Naruto. The hero who saved the ship and killed all those Romulans single handedly!"

Naruto froze and gawked at the children. He had no idea his deeds had gone around the ship this quickly.

"Yea, you're right! He saved us from those things that wouldn't let the ship move!" A little girl added.

"Isn't he dead? My daddy said he sacrificed himself to save us all." Another girl chimed in.

"It is obvious that claim was exaggerated." The Vulcan boy chimed in. "To put your life at risk in a plan that could have easily failed to save the ship is illogical."

"I believe it was Spock who said, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,' T'Pel." The teacher said.

T'Pel raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating."

At that moment Naruto felt the need to step in. "Ah, if I may just chime in here. I didn't intend to have to sacrifice myself to save the ship. But when I was nearly completed with my master plan, some complications arose and I couldn't make it back to the ship without my spacesuit tearing. So I figured instead of pointlessly running back to the ship I would spend my remaining time completing the mission."

The children "Ooo-ed " and "Awed" at Naruto's selfless act of courage.

"Then how did you survive if you spent your remaining time completing your original objective?" T'Pel inquired.

"That would be a Jutsu he learned from his father called the Flying Thunder God technique." Sakura gloated proudly.

"Jutsu? I am unfamiliar with that term." T'Pel inquired further.

Both Sakura and Naruto sweat dropped, this boy was starting to remind them of Shino for some reason.

"Are you familiar with ninja's?" Sakura asked.

"Sorry, but I'm not." T'Pel said.

"Ho boy... Well, a jutsu is a technique that ninja's, like Naruto and myself, that use an energy called Chakra that either enhances our abilities or grants us new abilities like walking on water or walking up a tree. Chakra is the combination of both physical and mental energies that-" Sakura droned on and on without realizing that she had begun to lecture and had long since lost all the children, even the normally frightfully intelligent T'Pel.

"Its magic." Naruto said, interrupting Sakura.

"Ooooohhh!" The children all awed.

"With it, we can do cool things like this!" Naruto said as he did a standing front flip high up and stuck his feet on the tile ceiling. He smiled down at the children as he ran around the ceiling like he was on the gymnasium track.

"That shouldn't be possible. It defies the laws of physics." T'Pel said, trying hard to keep his emotions in check.

"You're pretty smart for someone so young." Sakura pointed out.

"Like I said Tee! It's magic!" Naruto said as he started to run on the side of the walls. "We send chakra to our feet and use it like suction cups. Magic!"

 _'Why does he keep calling it magic? It's not!'_ Sakura thought to herself.

 _'We know that, but the kids don't understand that. Save for maybe that Vulcan kid.'_ Inner clarified, to which Sakura made an 'oh' expression like she just realized what Naruto was doing.

The children cheered as Naruto jumped around the classroom like he was using his own personal zero gravity. Finally, he landed in front of the entire class and held out his hand with dramatic showmanship.

"Or this..." He said. The children's gaze was laser focused on his palm, waiting for the next amazing trick he could pull off.

The air around his palm began to swirl and emit a faint glow. Naruto made sure to stretch this out as long as possible. Until finally he could hold it back any more and a ball of rotating light appeared in his hand. "Rasengan!" Naruto shouted. The children all awed at the glowing blue ball.

One child reached out to touch it, when Sakura held her back. "Woah! Don't touch it! That will hurt you." Sakura said.

The child looked like she wanted to protest, but Naruto quickly came to Sakura's defense. "Good catch Sakura-chan. Yeah, you don't want to be caught by this attack, kiddies."

"Can you do that too?" The girl asked Sakura, who looked startled after being put on the spot so quickly.

"Not that one, but I can do this." Sakura said as she held out her palm and it began to glow green with her healing jutsu. "This one won't hurt you." Sakura smiled.

"In fact, I'll make you feel really good. Does anyone here have a boo-boo?" Naruto asked, seeking a volunteer.

"I fell and hurt my knee." A little boy whimpered.

"Alright then, let me take a look." Sakura said in her kindest doctor tone.

The children then gathered round the boy and Sakura to get a look at her magic glowing hands in action.

Sakura moved her hand over the boy's knee. it was only a minor scrape, but it was enough to cause the boy discomfort. She surged her chakra and the wound healed instantly.

"It felt warm! Like my mom was hugging me!" The boy exclaimed happily as the pain went away.

The thought of being compared to a mother warmed Sakura's heart and made her smile shine all the brighter.

"It was just a minor scrape. But you be careful next time. I don't want to have to always be healing you." She playfully scolded as she booped the boy on his nose. The four-year-old giggled in response.

"I will Mrs. Naruto." The boy sweetly stated.

"Oh, I'm not married to Naruto..." Sakura politely corrected.

"Yeah dummy, Naruto is gonna be married to me!" One girl in the background spoke up.

"No! ME!" Another girl shouted. Soon many of the girls were fighting over Naruto over who would marry him.

Naruto chuckled. "Sorry kids. But if anyone is going to marry me, Sakura-chan would. Maybe not now, but someday." Naruto said with a grin.

"So does that mean she's single now?" One of the older boys spoke up.

"No. I'm his girlfriend." Sakura corrected with a smile on her face. Although she was still reeling over Naruto's statement earlier.

"I could be your husband though!" One of the other boys shyly interjected, he traced lines in the imaginary dirt with his feet.

Sakura looked at him like he was the cutest thing. "Well if you want to marry me, you're gonna have to work hard on it. Just like Naruto here is doing. I only expect the best from my potential husband. Girls, some marriage tips for you." Sakura said, prompting an outburst of giggles from the girls in the room.

"Nice save, Sakura-chan." Naruto whispered into her ear.

"Yea, well you best live up to your statement earlier. I want to have a ring on my finger before our child is born." Sakura whispered back, half teasing, half seriously.

Naruto sweat dropped, knowing that if he misinterpreted this, she would most likely take his balls as compensation. She did so with a client who had once tried to stiff them on payment after a mission. That client wasn't "stiffing" anybody ever again, that was for sure.

"I'll get right on that." He whispered back.

Sakura stopped right as she was and stared at Naruto with a look of shock and happiness. "S-seriously...?" Sakura breathed out. "I-I was joking really, but-"

"I don't want our child to be born without their parents being married and I don't think you do either. It won't happen right away, but soon." Naruto said softly as he planted a soft kiss on Sakura's forehead.

Sakura smiled, she absolutely loved it when he did that. A warm kiss felt so much better than a poke.

"Seriously Naruto, we don't have to rush into anything. I mean it was my stup-

She was silenced when Naruto placed his fingers over her lips.

"Don't finish that thought. We've been over this. I'm all in with you. We were partners and teammates before and we'll be partners and teammates after. And how would marriage change all that anyway? If anything, I always imagined marriage being exactly like the friendship I shared with you. Ok?"

Sakura's eyes got misty as she smiled and nodded.

"Ahem..." The teacher coughed.

Naruto and Sakura turned around to see that they had in fact had a moment right in front of the entire preschool. All those shit eating grins from those children. It was the Ninja Academy all over again.

"Hey! Teacher, so does this ship have a gymnasium or some big room with high ceilings? Cause I, that is me and Sakura-chan, have one more cool magic trick we could show them."

"There is a small Holodeck we use for the kids in the back." the teacher said.

"A holodeck will work. Come on kids! Mini field trip!" Naruto called out.

All this kids cheered and many of them followed Naruto. But there were two girls that didn't and Sakura noticed that one of them was the orphan Bajoran, but the other one was a little girl who nervously looked on at the group.

Sakura ignored them for now and continued following the entire class. Which Naruto had turned into a kind of parade, led by him and two of his shadow clones.

Once inside the holodeck, the teacher created an open field covered in grass big enough for all the children to roam freely.

"You call this small?" Sakura asked, having already been in one of the others.

"It's smaller than the others. about half the size. We use this for field trips and outside activities mostly." The teacher said.

"This should be perfect. Everyone back up!" Naruto shouted, making sure every kid was at least 30 yards away from him.

Naruto bit his thumb enough to draw blood, then flashed through the appropriate hand signs before slamming his palm down on the grassy surface.

"Summoning jutsu!" He cried and was immediately surrounded by an impenetrable cloud of smoke. When it finally cleared, there was a 50-foot-tall Toad in a Yakuza vest, carrying a sword and smoking a cigarette the size of a log in his mouth.

"Yo, Naruto, long time no see!" The Toad said in a booming New York accent.

"Hey, Gamakichi!" Naruto saluted back.

"Woah! You got big, Gamakichi." Sakura said.

"Heeey, that's your girl, isn't it Naruto?" Gamakichi leered. "I always knew you were gonna hit that. I mean look at all the kids you two had." He said gesturing to all the preschoolers staring up at the giant toad in complete awe.

Naruto jumped up and whacked Gamakichi on the head before Sakura did. "NO YOU IDIOT!" Naruto bellowed. "We only started dating a week and a half ago!"

 _'And we got knocked up a week into that.'_ Inner commented.

 _'And he doesn't need to know that.'_ Sakura countered.

"Naruto is right, Gamakichi. None of these children are ours." Sakura clarified.

"GIANT TALKING FROGGY!" The children all shrieked in delight.

The mob that had once circled Gamakichi at a respectful distance now rushed him like a pack of excited Chihuahuas.

"Naruto! What is this?" Gamakichi protested

"Preschool class we were asked to visit." Naruto smirked.

"Holy cow... Mr. Uzumaki, what is that?" The teacher asked, still in a state of shock.

"This is Gamakichi, my familiar. I'm the one and only Toad summoner back in the Leaf. Which makes me the Toad Sage." Naruto explained as the children started climbing atop Gamakichi.

"Amazing..." The teacher said in awe.

That was when Gamakichi saw the choice of attire both Naruto and Sakura were wearing.

"What's up with the get-up, Naruto? You lose a bet or something?" Gamakichi asked smugly.

Sakura giggled. "No, Gamakichi. Naruto and I had a recent change of employment." Sakura vaguely stated.

"We're on a super top secret mission." Naruto explained, knowing that the kids were still listening. Some of them were now trying to climb to the top of Gamakichi in a kind of game of King of the Hill. T'Pel was the first one to realize the best course of action was to climb directly up Gamakichi's backside.

"Oh yea? Cool. Old man Fukasaku said you were in space. Is that true?"

"HE DID?!" Sakura and Naruto both shouted.

"Calm down. He only shared it amongst Ma and the rest of your summons in case you need us."

"Phew... Sweet Sage, Don't scare me like that." Naruto said as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, buddy. But, I thought you were on a ship? This don't look like no ship to me." Gamakichi said.

"It's called a holodeck. It can simulate any area, fictitious or real." T'Pel said behind the toad's ear.

"Oh, so it's like a room that can use the transformation jutsu." Gamakichi thought out loud.

"Kinda." Sakura said.

"Would you believe that there are human's out there that have technology like this? Its flipping amazing!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You humans were always tenacious like that. Always have to make the next big thing. You could just sit back and enjoy nature. But you humans invented BBQ chips, so my brother would call that even."

"Yes, but here's the thing. Apparently these Humans have been around for millions of years. But, our history doesn't go back that far. Why is that?" Sakura thought out loud.

"I seem to remember the elder saying something about Humans coming to Element suddenly. One moment there were none and then the next, there you are. That was about 4000 years ago I think he said."

 _'So, Crusher and Picard could be on to something after all.'_ Sakura thought.

"AAH! LEGGO!" Gamakichi cried as one of the kids latched on to his lower lip.

The teacher then clapped his hands. "Okay, Class! Let's leave Gamakichi alone."

 _ **'Hey Kit...'**_ Kurama whispered to Naruto in his head. Naruto got excited and jumped off of Gamakichi.

"Hey kids, I've got one more summoning to show you." Naruto smirked as he raised up his shirt to show the tattoo on his belly.

"Naruto...what are you doing?" Sakura asked.

"Summoning Kurama." Naruto replied simply.

Naruto then twisted his seal before slamming down his palm and another explosion of smoke burst out forth.

When the dust cleared, Naruto stood atop a 50 foot tall chibi Kurama. Which was exactly how Kurama had remembered looking back when he was initially created by the Sage of Six Paths 3000 years ago. He looked like a pup or a giant plushy.

"Hey kids! Get a load of this!" Naruto said to get everyone's attention.

The kids all turned their attention away from the giant toad and turned their attention to the giant fluffy fox with nine fluffy tails and huge cute red eyes.

"PUPPY!" They all screamed in joy as they rushed over to glomp Kurama.

 _ **'Oh shit...'**_

 _'I Tried to warn ya.'_

 _ **'You didn't warn me! You said-'**_ Kurama was interrupted by a swarm of children all dog piling him. Like the Sakura clones from a week ago, but instead of beautiful 20 something women it was a bunch of snot nosed kids all furiously petting him.

 _'Might as well roll with it now.'_ Naruto snickered.

 _ **'Oh Sage! They're on my tails!'**_

 _'Do to them what you did with the Sakura clones.'_

 _ **'I REALLY don't think that's appropriate.'**_

 _'I meant give them a ride...'_ Naruto deadpanned.

 _ **'Oh that... yeah I can do that.'**_ Kurama thought as he rolled back onto his four legs. The kids awed in disappointment until Kurama offered them his tails. Overjoyed, the kids and grabbed on to his tail tips one by one as he hoisted them aboard his back.

The kids cheered as Kurama gave over half the class a piggy back ride (or foxy back ride) while Gamakichi gave the rest a froggy back ride.

Sakura could on look on with a smirk on her face. And yet she felt a sense of disappointment for some odd reason. Was it fair to say that she was jealous of all the attention Naruto was getting?

 _'No getting around it. He just has cooler moves than we do. And I doubt the kids will ride on the back of a giant slug.'_ Inner said sadly.

Sakura thought back not so fondly to the times she had tried to bring in her slug summons to the sick children back in the Leaf Hospital. The worst thing they called her was, "gross."

 _'Yeah, probably not the best idea in the world.'_

 _'I...do have one thing we can do... But I'm not sure if one, the kids will react to it well and two, whether you can handle it in your current state.'_

 _'You mean the Hundred Hand seal? Nah, let's hold off on that. Just enjoy the view. It's not often we get to see Kurama act like a horsey.'_ Sakura smirked.

 _'Not that. Something else...'_ Inner started. _'Have you ever felt a surge or power anytime you get mad?'_

 _'Yea... What about it?'_

 _'There is a whole lot more you can tap into that brings out a transformation similar to Naruto's Kurama mode.'_ Inner explained.

 _'How much power?'_ Sakura asked.

 _'All together? Enough to match Naruto.'_

 _'My god... Will it hurt the baby?'_

 _'That I don't know.'_ Inner stated. _'Speaking of...actually nobody brought it up, but did you notice that one little girl?'_ Inner thought.

 _'The Bajoran girl?'_

 _'No not her, the other one.'_ Inner stated.

Sakura looked around but couldn't see what girl her Inner self was referring to, until she noticed a tiny little blond girl off in the distance. Sitting farther away from anyone else, essentially with her back against the holodeck walls.

 _'She looks so lonely.'_ Sakura commented to herself.

 _'She looks like you.'_ Inner commented back.

 _'How does she look... like...'_ Sakura stopped when she recalled her childhood memories. Mostly the time spent as a lonely little girl hugging her knees until the bullies went away.

 _'You're right... When I see her... I see myself at that age before I met Ino.'_

 _'What say we do some gardening then?'_ Inner commented.

Sakura nodded as she made her way over to the lonely little girl who still hadn't noticed the pink haired doctor coming towards her

As she got closer, Sakura began to hear something, a sound all too familiar. The sound of post crying sniffles.

 _'Wait, is she...?'_ Sakura thought, but upon closer inspection, her suspicions were confirmed.

"Sniff..." The little girl rubbed her nose, not wanting to further stain her purple flowery dress. The girl had long blond hair that was a mess, but not from crying. Sakura could tell just by looking at the girl that her hair was intentionally being used to cover the girls face. From what, Sakura wasn't sure, but she was determined to get to the bottom of it. The first step however, was always the biggest.

"Hello..." Sakura said I'm her sweetest voice.

The little girl looked up and saw Sakura kneeling down in front of her, but turned her head away.

"I'm Sakura, what's your name?"

"(sniff) S-Sally..." The girl sobbed.

"Sally, that's a pretty name. What are you doing over here all by yourself? Don't you want to go and ride Kurama and Gamakichi or play with the other kids?"

"N-no... They all make... f-fun of me..." Sally sobbed.

Sakura's heart broke, it was exactly as she feared.

"Is that right? And why would they make fun of a sweet girl like you?"

"Sniff...I don't wanna say. You'll just make fun of me too." The girl replied glumly.

"No I won't. Trust me. I know what it's like to be made fun of and would never do it to anyone." Sakura said softly.

Sally pulled back her hair and looked up at Sakura. She had one green eye and one blue eye and Sakura thought it was very cool.

"You have two different colored eyes? I think it makes you look beautiful." Sakura said.

The girl quickly returned her hair to its original position.

"That's what mommy and daddy always says, but the other kids still laugh at me. Call me a freak..."

"And what do they know? They probably wouldn't know beauty if it bit them on the butt. I was made fun of having a large forehead." Sakura said as she lifted up her bangs to reveal her abnormally large forehead.

"What? But you're so pretty. And kind... And talented... And smart... How can I compete with you?" Sally said sadly.

This got Sakura's attention. "Why would you need to compete with me?" She wondered aloud as she traced Sally's eyes over to where she was staring at and found herself looking directly at Naruto.

' _She's got a crush on Naruto.'_ Sakura realized.

' _Little girl had better step off our man!'_ Inner Sakura raved, but Sakura ignored her inner self. Instead she knelt closer to Sally to speak to her face to face.

"You know, when I was your age, I was exactly like you. I wasn't always like I am now. I would be bullied for my large forehead for quite a while, until I met my friend Ino. She is like a sister to me." Sakura began.

"And do you know what she told me about dealing with bullies who teased me about my forehead?" Sakura said as she pulled out a ribbon she had carried around with her. She took Sally's long hair and tied it back into a beautiful pony tail, fully revealing Sally's face.

"She told me to own it. And show off the cute face to the rest of the world."

"R-really...?" Sally asked as she lightened up.

"Would you believe it was thanks to my forehead that got me the love of my life?" Sakura looked over at Naruto. "I learned a few years ago that he had always loved my forehead. He called it charming and cute. My most hated feature, and it acted as my red string of fate." Sakura reminisced fondly.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh, it's an old legend back on my home planet. It states that between every two fated lovers. There is a single invisible red thread of destiny connecting the two. It can stretch and stretch but it can never break, no matter how far away you are from your true love. So if you follow your red string to its end, it will lead you to your true love."

"Wow! Really?" Sally said, now sporting a gleaming smile.

"Yes, so if in your case your two eye colors are your red string, then the only way you'll be able to find your true love would be to show them off for your true love to see." Sakura explained as the girl's face became brighter and brighter.

Sally was so happy that she glomped Sakura in a tight hug. "Thank you!"

Sakura returned the hug with gusto. "You're welcome, Sally. If you ever need anything, or just need to talk. Come find me at the medical station. Ok?"

"Um, which one? There are many here."

"The main sick bay on deck 12." Sakura said with a smile.

"That's the main one, with Dr. Crusher..." Sally said in awe.

"That's right. I'm her number 2." Sakura smiled.

"Wow! That's really cool!" Sally said in amazement.

 _'I wonder if she likes slugs...'_ Inner wondered.

 _'No harm in trying really.'_

"Hey Sally. You know, I can summon animals too." Sakura said with a warm smile.

Sally actually took a step back. "You don't summon more frogs do you? I don't actually like frogs."

"No I don't. And they're actually toads. Similar, but not the same. I can summon healing slugs."

"What are slugs?" Sally inquired, having never heard of such a creature before.

"Maybe it would be better if I showed you." Sakura suggested.

Sakura bit her thumb and went through a set of hand signs. She slammed her hand down and a cloud of smoke appeared. Once it cleared, a small slug about the size of Sakura's fist appeared.

"Hello, Lady Sakura." The slug greeted.

"Eeehhhh..." Sally says, unsure of what to make of the little slug. It looked cute and Sakura says she was friends with it. But it also looked slimy like a frog.

The slug turned and saw Sally retracting like the slug was going to hurt her. "Hello there. What's your name? I won't hurt you."

"Um...um..." Sally stuttered, she fidgeted in place.

"Oh come now. I'm sorry Katugi, this is Sally. She's shy. Sally, this is Katugi, my familiar. I promise she won't bite."

"I can't anyway. I have no teeth." Katugi joked. If she did had teeth, she would have been smiling.

Sakura held out her hand and placed Katugi on Sally's arm. The girl cringed at the cool slimy feeling shiver up her arm, but for the sake of her newest friend, she kept her silence. Katugi then began crawling up Sally's arm, and she giggled.

"It tickles..." She laughed.

"I had the same reaction when my master introduced me to slugs." Sakura smiled.

Sally laughed as Katugi crawled over her shoulder and behind her neck. "Really?"

"Well..."

"More like you were grossed out by us at first." Katugi corrected.

"Thanks for selling me out..." Sakura grumbled.

Katugi laughed, but stopped when she found something on Sally that alarmed her. "Sally. What is this on your shoulder?" Katugi asked, which caused Sakura to be alarmed.

"...One of the other kids hit me there with a toy car... It still hurts..." Sally mumbled.

"What? Let me see." Sakura said, immediately switching over to medic mode.

"Please don't touch it. It hurts..." Sally said with fear.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you." Sakura said softly. Sally nodded and let Sakura work.

Sakura exposed her left shoulder to see a pretty nasty gash that she had covered up with a napkin.

Sakura activated her mystic palm technique. Instantly she traced the wound with her green chakra, healing it just as quickly.

Sally relaxed at the warm feeling of Sakura's chakra healing her. "The pain is gone. What are you doing?"

"Just healing it with my jutsu. You saw what I did with one of your classmates right?"

"Oh. Yea I did. That is what you're doing?"

"Yup. My jutsu increases the rate of cell divisions, thereby reducing the recovery time for wounds." Sakura explained, not realizing that she was explaining advanced medicine to a preschooler.

"But wouldn't the cell regrowth remain in effect for a while?" Sally asked, which stunned both Sakura ant Katugi. "What? My grandfather is a Commander in the Starfleet Medical Corps."

 _'It's a shame me and Naruto will be gone before she turns 13. I could use an apprentice.'_

 _'If you two decide to remain in Starfleet, you still could.'_ Inner commented.

 _'I don't think so. I still miss our old home.'_

 _'You say that now, but later on you may change your mind. Besides, don't you have a Starfleet doctor to train as well?'_

 _'We'll see. It's a long five years.'_

"It's all better! Thank you, Mrs. Naruto!" Sally exclaimed as she glomped Sakura into another hug.

"I'm not..." Sakura tried to explain but fell short at seeing that adorable little girl hug her waist.

 _'You will be sooner or later. might as well roll with it.'_ Inner commented.

"It's Mrs. Uzumaki actually. But it's Sakura to my friends." Sakura politely explained.

"Am I your friend?" Sally asked with the strongest puppy dog eyes Sakura had ever seen.

Sakura smiled. "Of course you are. So long as I am your friend."

Sally gave an ear to ear grin that would rival Naruto's. "Yay! I have a friend!"

Sakura smiled and hugged Sally some more.

"Now wouldn't you like to go play with the other kids and make some more friends?"

Sally pulled away and started shifting around nervously. "I... Um..."

Sakura frowned while keeping Sally at arm's length. Of course fixing her self-confidence couldn't be done in a half hour, but Sakura just felt so obligated, there had to be something more she could do...

And then it hit her.

"Sally, do you remember Naruto running up and along those walls in your classroom?"

"Oh yeah That was cool." Sally smiled.

Sakura's pleasant smile turned a bit devious. "Well how would you like to do just that?"

"Me?! Do that?! No way!"

"Yes way. And normally it would take years of training in order to perform the tree climbing technique, but with a little help from your newest friend, it'll be a snap." Sakura smirked.

"Computer, construct an acre of forest. Make the trees tall." The pinkette commanded.

Just then, several tall Oak and Maple trees appeared to which Naruto and the class teacher noticed from where they were.

 _'Have you ever even done anything like this before? Done answer that, cause I already know that the answer is no.'_ Inner said.

 _'Would you relax? Theoretically it should work perfectly.'_

 _'Theoretically? Perfect last words. Who are you? Naruto?'_

 _'Oh zip it.'_

When Sally saw all the trees that seemed to touch the sky, she began to have second thoughts. Not that she had a fear of heights, it was just...

Her thoughts were cut off when Sakura came up behind her and took her hands into hers. Sally looked up to see Sakura's confident face egging her on.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm transferring my chakra to you. Just trust me and put on foot on the tree trunk." Sakura explained.

"O-okay..." Sally said nervously. She put one of her feet on the tree trunk and then magic started to happen.

"Ok, now try to lift yourself up by that one leg." Sakura instructed, her own palms being sweaty in anticipation.

Sally nervously started pulling herself up by that leg, only to discover a new sensation from her feet. It felt like a pulling sensation and wasn't slipping.

She had complete traction against the tree.

Sakura smiled. "Now take another step..."

Feeling more confident, Sally lifted her other foot up and she was surprised to see that she didn't fall. Instead, both her feet were firmly planted on the trunk of the tree.

"I'm doing it! Look! I'm doing it!" Sally exclaimed excitedly.

Sally looked straight up, which to Sakura was Sally looking upside down at her.

"Yes you are!" Sakura replied as she too took a few steps onto the tree trunk so that the both of them were standing on the side of the tree.

"How far can we go up?"

"How far can you run?" Sakura teased.

"Mommy says I can run good enough to be on a track team." Sally beamed.

"Well let's see it." Sakura beamed back.

Sally and Sakura both took off running up the tree like they were running on the ground. "This is amazing!" Sally cheered.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh for joy at Sally's enthusiasm.

"You think that's cool? Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to jump!" Without warning, Sakura leapt from one tree trunk to the next, carrying Sally along by her hands.

"Whooooohoooo!" Sakura cried.

"Weeeeeeeee!" Sally called.

The two girls quickly landed on the adjacent tree. Sakura landed first and helped to ease Sally's landing, before the two of them resumed their running along the tree trunk and along the tree branches.

Meanwhile, back on the ground...

"You kids having fun?" Naruto asked with a grin on his face.

The kids had since begun jumping on top of Gamakichi's belly like a bouncy castle and riding on top of Kurama's tails like he was an amusement park ride.

"I take that as a yes." Naruto said.

 **"I have to admit; I'm having fun as well."** Kurama said.

"Yeah, who knew you were such a big softy?" Naruto said. _'Mr. All Powerful Demon and Embodiment of Human Rage.'_ He continued in his thoughts.

 _ **'Kit... IT has something to do with being on this ship and you with Sakura. I hate to admit it, but I think any hatred I had for humans is gone now... Like someone flipped a switch and made me into something I'm not... I don't know how to explain it...'**_

 _'So I had no say in removing your hatred?'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'Like I said, Kit. I don't know... But it feels... Nice...'**_

 _'Well having a friendly enormous demon fox sealed inside me can only be a benefit to everyone.'_ Naruto thought.

Kurama didn't say another word as he continued to enjoy playing with the children.

One little boy had curled up into his furry belly and gone to sleep.

Kurama noticed the boy sleeping and smiled softly. _**'I really am a big softy, aren't I?'**_

 _'Yup! But that's a good thing. I'll know that any child of mine will be safe with you.'_ Naruto thought back.

Kurama was grateful that his fur kept anyone from seeing him blush.

 _ **'Ah shut up. What are you even saying? It's embarrassing...'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'You? Embarrassed? That's new.'_ Naruto smirked.

 _ **'Shaddup!'**_

 _'Relax... I'm saying that because I want someone to watch our child while Sakura and I are on duty. If something happens to either one of us or, sage forbid, both of us, I want our child in safe hands.'_

 _ **'You do realize that I'm a part of you, right? If anything happens to you, then something happens to me.'**_

Naruto's skin suddenly turned pale. _'Shit...'_

 _ **'Relax. I still reform after 3 years. So I'll watch out for the kit then.'**_

 _'So, what happens during those 3 years, pray tell?'_

 _ **'Probably your friends take care of your spawn. Did you ever think of that? I don't know if you've noticed, but you've gotten quite popular over the years.'**_

 _'Yea, that's true...'_

 _ **'Kit, no child of yours will have your childhood. I won't let it happen, you won't let it happen, Sakura won't let it happen, and anyone who knows you won't let it happen.'**_ Kurama reassured.

"Hey what's that!" One of the children shouted, his finger pointing to the tallest branches of the newly created forest. Everyone present looked to where the child was pointing to and they could see two figures running across the treetops.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto thought out loud as he saw a pink haired figure with a smaller blonde haired figure hopping through the trees.

The bouncing pair leapt over to a lower hanging branch and swung around it by the soles of their feet. Finally resting as they were hung upside down on the branch. They looked down with huge grins on each of their faces. Naruto had a quick flashback to when he made that exact face at Sakura back when he had first mastered the tree climbing technique.

"It's Mrs. Naruto! But why is she with that freak?" One of the boys asked.

"That's mean, Charlie. You shouldn't talk that way." Alexander scolded.

"That's Second Eye Sally though."

"She's climbing up the trees with her feet."

"That's so cool!"

Almost in an instant, the children's jeers turned into ones of amazement.

Naruto felt the need to get to the bottom of this. He sent chakra into his legs and leapt 3 stories into the thicket of the trees and then began leaping up from tree trunk to tree trunk until he reached his favorite pinkette.

"Sup, Sakura-chan?"

"WOAH!" Sakura jumped. "Sweet sage you scared me... I thought you were down there."

"I thought the same of you. What are you doing up here? And who's this little cutie?" Naruto teased. Sally looked away as best she could with a deep blush on her face.

"This is my new friend Sally! Come on, Say hi. He won't bite." Sakura urged.

 _'Not her anyway.'_ Inner Sakura thought.

"H-hi..." Sally squeaked out as she looked at Naruto and his dazzling smile. He was so bright he was like the sun.

"Hi there, I'm Naruto." He said holding out his hand for her to shake while they were both still upside down.

"Oh! So you're the one Sakura said she's married to!" Sally gushed as she shook Naruto's hand. Naruto was about to say something, but got a look from Sakura saying "Roll with it."

"Ah...yes, that's me." Naruto said nervously. He then made a closer inspection of Sally, when he noticed something peculiar.

"Wow you have two different colored eyes..." He said aloud.

Sally pulled away and started to hide her eyes. "Please don't laugh..."

"That's so cool." Naruto gawked. "Ah man, I wish I had two different colored eyes."

"Y-you... like it...?" Sally asked nervously.

"I love it. It makes you look unique." He replied. "Especially the electric blue one, that one is seriously intense."

Sally turned away. In truth, she was always the most embarrassed about her blue eye. It was why she had covered it instead of the green one. But if Naruto liked it...

"Hey Sakura-chan, doesn't she remind you of someone from back home?" Naruto thought aloud.

"Um... No one that comes to mind off hand."

"Really? Cause she kind of reminds me of Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura just stood there dumbfounded. How could she not realize it sooner?

"Who is Kakashi-sensei?" Sally asked, her blood was starting to rush to her head.

"He is our mentor, well was. We have long since surpassed him." Sakura explained.

"He taught me and Sakura-chan how to do the tree climbing technique. As a matter-of-fact." Naruto added.

"He was also considered to be the most attractive man in our village." Sakura also added.

"Keyword, was." Naruto snickered.

"Oh stop you." Sakura said, lightly slapping Naruto in the chest with the back of her hand. Naruto playfully backed up as Sakura took Sally so that the both of them were right side up.

"Anyway, he also had two different eye colors." Sakura explained.

"Well he did, but that's another story." Naruto whispered to himself.

"Okay?" Sally said in confusion, trying to see where these two were going with this.

"The point is, that you shouldn't be ashamed of your differences. You should own them." Sakura summarized.

"She tried to hide her eyes? But they're so pretty." Naruto exclaimed in disbelief.

Sally looked away starting to get upset. Sakura leaned into Naruto's ear to whisper to him. "The other kids bully her about her eyes." Sakura whispered.

"What?" Naruto said, his anger starting to show. Sakura knew that he hated bullies, especially when they bullied kids who didn't deserve it. But before either of them could act on it, the three of them heard cheering coming from the ground below.

"Sally's running up trees!" Some of the children cheered.

"That's so cool!"

"I wanna run up trees too!"

"Me too!"

"Looks like that won't be a problem anymore." Naruto whispered to Sakura.

"Agreed." Sakura whispered back with a smile.

Sally just looked down at all her classmates in awe. Before they had been quick to dismiss her, but now...

Now they were cheering for her.

"Awesome, Sally!" Alexander called out.

"Looks like somebody likes you." Sakura teased.

"What? Who?" Sally stuttered.

"Alexander. See him waving at you?" Sakura pointed out. "He's a good kid."

"Eew, he's gross!" Sally stated. "He teased me the most about my eyes."

"What?" Naruto and Sakura asked in shock.

"Seriously? He's the last one I'd expect that from." Sakura stated.

"Well, his father is Worf." Naruto said.

"And that's supposed to mean what exactly? That he's as much of a brute as he is? I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that." Sakura interjected.

"No, no, Sakura-chan I didn't mean it like that." Naruto defended.

"Oh really... Enlighten me."

 _ **'Brace yourself, Kit. It's mood swing time.'**_ Kurama said into Naruto's mind.

Naruto gulped as he chose his words carefully.

"Oh you know... He's a Klingon, right? A guy I mean. And he has heightened...testosterone so that means he acts even more like a guy..."

"The hel- Um... Heck is that supposed to mean? It almost sounds like you are against Klingons!" Sakura spat, her anger rising.

 _'Dammit!'_ Naruto cursed to himself.

 _ **'Just say what I say'**_ Kurama said and Naruto nodded.

"Well, Klingon's are warriors right?" Naruto asked, to which Sakura nodded, not letting up on her glare. "W-well, He's Klingon, so maybe it's in his nature and it doesn't show as much when they are kids." Naruto assumed.

"Hmmm... I suppose that makes sense." Sakura said as her tension relaxed.

 _'Good call, Fuzz ball.'_ Naruto said in relief.

 _ **'It's what I do.'**_

"Naruto! Sakura!" The teacher called out to grab their attention.

"This has been amazing, but I'm afraid it's time to return to class!" The teacher shouted to a chorus of boos and "awwww" from the students.

"Alright!" Sakura called. "Let's go, Sally."

"Aww, do I have to? I reeeally wanted to keep hanging out with you." She begged with puppy dog eyes.

"I know, so do I. But you gotta expand that mind of yours. One day, you could become big and strong like Naruto and me." Sakura said softly.

Sally looked down at the ground in disappointment.

"Can I at least see you again?"

Sakura laughed. "Of course! Naruto and I will be on the Enterprise for 5 years so you'll have plenty of time to see me whenever you want."

Sally's eyes lit up. "Can I come see you at work?!"

"I don't see why not! Dr. Crusher would love to see a new face that she doesn't have to heal."

Sally inhaled a great deal of breath. "YAAY!" She screamed as she wrapped her hands around Sakura's neck.

"Ack! Sally! Air!" Sakura gasped.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh, Sakura finally being given a taste of her own medicine.

"Sally! Seriously! Too Tight!" Sakura gasped out and Sally pulled away in embarrassment.

Naruto patted Sally on the head. "Look at that Sakura-chan, she's already mastered one of your techniques." He teased.

Sakura was too busy trying to catch her breath to respond.

Naruto took that as a sign that he was going to get off Scott free for once and scooped up the two girls in his arms.

 _'Oh, just you wait until we get back to our quarters.'_ Sakura seethed in her head.

Not hearing any complaints, Naruto leapt down to the ground, using his chakra to soften their landing. He then let Sakura down, who let Sally down, who was quickly surrounded by her new fans.

"That was awesome Sally!"

"So cool!"

"I love your hair!"

"Can I go next!?"

While the children gathered around Sally, Sakura was having an important discussion with her inner self.

 _'Fun and wild evening?'_ Inner asked.

 _'More like a perfect time to try some of my new bondage toys I got...'_ Sakura chuckled evilly.

 _'Woah girl. I was just going to say we should collect on that threesome he promised us.'_

Sakura stopped to think about that. _'Hmm... After his punishment. What do you think? Whip first, or go straight to the ropes and sexual torture?'_

 _'...You'll want to get him into one of those cock cages Ino showed us first. Let him know our intentions for the evening.'_ Inner said with an evil grin.

 _'Perfect... Oh, and I think you should take over a shadow clone. Just to make it even harder for him...'_ Sakura replied with an equally evil grin.

 _'Oh we are going to break his dick.'_ Inner thought.

 _'Not before we have our fun.'_

 _'No no, see here is the brilliance of it. We'll leave him blue balled tonight after we get off and then tomorrow he'll have to double team us if he wants to get off. And it'll be that much more satisfying.'_

 _'Oh, you evil BITCH! I love it! We're gonna have him kissing our feet by the end of the night.'_ Sakura cackled.

 _'We'll have him kiss much funner places than our feet...'_ Inner replied with a sultry grin.

 _'That we certainly will. But enough of that. I don't want to leave a wet spot in my pants. Already getting moist.'_

"Hey Sakura, what're you thinking about?" Naruto said trying to get his girlfriend's attention. All the children were in the process of leaving the holodeck and Sakura was just standing still with a grin on her face. Naruto hoped this wasn't a pregnancy brain thing.

"Oh, you'll find out later." Sakura simply said.

Naruto shrugged and the two walked back with the preschoolers towards their class.

On the way there, they were intercepted by the teacher.

"Hey Teach, what's up?" Naruto asked.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to thank you two for showing up today. The children all loved you."

"Oh, no trouble at all. We'd love to come by again." Sakura said.

"I'm also very thankful that you were able to breathe new life into little miss Adams. She has been miserable because of the kids picking on her about her eyes."

"Oh don't thank us for that. We were happy to help her. The two of us know a thing or two about being bullied." Sakura stated.

"Most people do during their childhood years. Soon, these kids will learn that being different isn't a sin."

"Glad we could help speed things along." Naruto said.

Just then, the red alert klaxon sounded. "I think you two need to return to your quarters. I heard about your recent, 'free time.'" The teacher suggested.

Naruto and Sakura looked at the teacher in horror as he walked to join his class.

"Oh God, we've turned into Kakashi and Shizune." Naruto realized in horror.

 _'In more ways than one.'_ Inner commented.

"Do you think we'll be needed on the bridge?" Sakura asked, referring to the klaxon alarm.

"We were taken off duty as punishment, so unless they say otherwise, we best head back to our room." Naruto said glumly.

Sakura nodded and the two made their way towards their quarters.

Halfway there, Sakura noticed the sad look on Naruto.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know Sakura, it's this whole off duty punishment thing I guess. It bugs me."

Sakura nodded. "Yea... Nothing to do always bugged me too."

"It's not just that. It's the reason why I was punished. Sure I disobeyed the Captain's orders in the heat of the moment, but it was for the good of the ship. And in the end I saved the ship and got back alive, yet I was still punished for it."

"Well, look at it this way, Hun. We could have been sent back to Element right on the spot, but we were just taken off duty for a few days." Sakura soothed as she rubbed Naruto's shoulders. "We still have 5 more years left. Let's make them count."

Naruto leaned into Sakura who had begun rubbing his arm in an attempt to relax him.

"Yeah I know, it just feels like we aren't doing as much body guarding as we should be, ya know?"

"Oh, that will change, I'm sure. Who knows? We could get called out for an away mission anytime." Sakura assured.

"Yeah..." Naruto said as Sakura continued to massage him as they walked. Then Sakura had an idea.

"Hey, tell you what? How about tomorrow we spend the day doing some training. A few spars against one another might be just what you need." Sakura suggested.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want you to overwork yourself."

"Naruto, I'm not even a full week pregnant yet. I'll be fine." Sakura assured.

 _'What is the actual plan here? As if I didn't already know.'_ Inner thought.

 _'Oh, I'm just going to follow up Naruto's blue balled evening with a day of him getting all sweaty and frustrated.'_ Sakura replied simply.

"Besides, I got a really fun night planned tonight." Sakura said in a sultry tone.

 _'Oh you sneaky vixen...'_ Inner thought.

"I love you so much right now." Naruto huskily growled.

Sakura tapped him on the lips. "I know..."

She then walked ahead of him. Letting him get a good view of the prize swishing side to side.

 _'I will never get tired of that view.'_ Naruto thought.

The two made their way back to their quarters to enjoy a quick meal at Sakura's insistence. Afterwards they spent an hour on the couch listening to an album by some guy named Stevie Wonder.

Until finally Sakura figured now was as good a time as any.

"Naruto?" She asked in a sultry voice.

"Yea?"

"I have a favor to ask you. It's about the night of fun I have planned for tonight." She asked while being sure to scooch her butt back into his crotch.

Naruto gulped hard as he tried to restrain himself. "Yea...?" He growled.

"Could you go into the other room and don't come out until I tell you too?" She asked in a disarmingly perky tone.

"Um... S-sure..." Naruto said in confusion.

 _ **'I sense deception, Kit.'**_ Kurama warned.

"Great, thanks!" Sakura said as she pushed Naruto quickly into his old bedroom, now Kurama's den. She shut the door and quickly began work on preparations.

As Sakura started getting ready, her combadge beeped.

"Bridge to Ensign Haruno." Picard called, eliciting a groan from Sakura.

"Go ahead..." Sakura called back.

"I need you and Naruto on the bridge. You two are needed to accompany me on an away team." Picard stated.

 _'MOTHERFUCKER!'_ Inner screamed.

"Right away, Sir." Sakura stated in a completely professional tone.

"See you in a bit. Picard out." Picard then closed the channel.

"Dammit!" Sakura cursed loudly.

She marched up to Naruto's door and pounded on it. "Orders just came in from Picard, we're needed on the bridge." Sakura said with disappointment seeped into her voice.

The door slide open so that Sakura could see Naruto stripped down to his boxers, trying out some kind of sex pose that just looked awkward.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Get dressed. We've been called for an away mission... Looks like our fun will have to wait." Sakura said sadly.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed loudly. He then got up and began throwing his uniform back on as Sakura left to change out of her casual wear and into her uniform as well.

 _'God dammit! Of all times we could get an away mission, it's now...'_ Sakura cursed mentally.

 _'And here I was thinking it would only happen tomorrow before Naruto would get a chance to get his rocks off after all the torture we were gonna put him through.'_ Inner commented.

 _'Well, let's just hope this is a short mission.'_

 _'It had better be...'_ Inner thought.

In less than a minute, Naruto and Sakura were dressed and out the door and headed into the elevator.

"Bridge!" Sakura called as they entered the turbo lift and the doors closed. "Naruto, I'm so sorry about this."

"It's fine Sakura-chan, it's not your fault. Besides, we've got a mission." Naruto perked up. Sakura couldn't help but smile, leave it to Naruto to look on the bright side.

"True. Glad I took a hormone suppressant before we left." Sakura said offhandedly.

Naruto nodded, not sure what she meant by that and looked forward, trying to appear professional.

The doors slide open and the Tenchi duo had arrived at the bridge.

"Ensigns Haruno and Uzumaki, reporting for duty. What is the situation." Sakura answered for the both of them as they saluted as one.

Picard and Riker were already standing up to great the ensigns. "Glad you two could make it. We have a bit of a crisis on our hands." Picard said as Naruto and Sakura stood in front of their commanding officers.

"Right now we are in orbit of Andoria. They have requested our assistance with a terrorist organization that has set off bombs near one of the capital cities. There are several injured and almost as many dead. I'm leading an away team of security officers and medics to the surface to render aid. You two will need to be by my side the entire time." Picard summarized.

"Understood, we're ready." Naruto answered this time.

"Good. Now, I expect you two to follow my orders well. Especially you, Mr. Uzumaki." Picard said sternly.

Naruto knew Picard was probing him for any kind of defiance. Well he wasn't going to find any. Naruto was determined to make a good impression and he would do it by playing by their rules.

"Sir yes sir." He replied sternly.

"Good. Riker, Data, Worf, with me. Naruto, Sakura, let's go." Picard ordered as they all made their way to the turbo lift. "Deck six." Picard ordered as they all piled into the turbo lift.

Nobody said a word as the lift took them to the transporter room, where the resident engineers had already warmed up the machine and imputed the intended coordinates.

"Coordinates set, Captain." Chief O'Brien said.

"Good." Picard responded as everyone got onto the transporter pad. "Everyone, set your phasers on stun. Try to avoid a violent conflict if possible." Picard ordered and everyone re-tuned their phasers to the proper setting. "Energize."

Miles input the commands into the console and the 6 figures turned into columns of lighted particles as they disappeared into nothingness.


	12. Chapter 12: Clones Straight

On the surface of Andoria, six figures emerged from nothing and took up a defensive stance. While Worf, Data, and Riker all made a traditional circle around Picard, the ninjas from Element took a more refined approach.

With Picard acting as the center, Naruto and Sakura made a two-man defensive perimeter. Naruto being the most combat oriented took up the head, positioning himself seemingly side by side with Picard on his right, but exactly one step ahead of him. Ensuring that Naruto was able to cover Picard's North through East section.

Sakura meanwhile was at Picard's left and exactly one step behind him. Her primary position as medic meant that if trouble arouse she was in the optimal position to provide immediate medical aid and was able to cover Picard's West to South section.

For a two-man squad assigned to body guarding, it was the most ideal set up possible.

They all looked around as they saw blue people with white hair and antennae running around and helping move injured people to medical centers or moving the deceased to a makeshift morgue after the initial bombing.

Sakura fought against her instincts to start running up to the nearest critical patient she could find and start healing. She was Picard's bodyguard first and foremost. Unless he ordered her to she would stay by his side in case of a follow up terrorist attack.

 _'Really wish I had Naruto's capacity for Shadow Clones though.'_

Just then, an Andorian official approached the group. "I'm glad you could all make it." He said in a worried tone. "We drove away the terrorists for the moment, right now, we need help with the injured and the dead as well as search and rescue."

"I'm Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. We'll do whatever we can to help." Picard said.

"Permission to speak sir." Naruto spoke up.

"Granted."

"Sir, as your bodyguard, I recommend we escort you to the local government's command center where the local authorities can ensure your safety. There you will be able to coordinate with the local government on any aid they may need from Star fleet. This will allow Ensign Haruno and I the opportunity to assist in search and rescue."

"An excellent Idea. However, why don't you two use your shadow clones for now to escort me. You two are needed more here than with me. If you need to, I do still have that seal you made me." Picard suggested.

"Yes, sir." Naruto saluted as he and Sakura each created a single Shadow Clone to replace them from Picard's side. Not wasting anytime, the two Ensigns got to work in helping relief efforts.

Naruto created a dozen Shadow clones and sent them out to find people still trapped beneath the buildings and to assist in lifting the heavy debree that had fallen.

Sakura meanwhile had run to the nearest patient she could find and began stabilizing him. The on call emergency workers were confused at first, but when Sakura's first patient was healed enough to sleep without any medication the nurses and doctors decided to use her.

"Damn. I can't sense anything." Naruto said as he tried to find sources of life. He took out his tricorder and scanned the area and found one just below him.

"GOT ANOTHER ONE DOWN HERE!" He shouted to grab someone else's attention while he himself sent Shadow Clones deep into the structure to try and find pathways leading to the victim without the need to dig.

 _'Shit, life signs are fading on this one.'_

"SAKURA! I NEED YOU OVER HERE, NOW!" Naruto called out.

"Shadow clone Jutsu!" Sakura called as she made another clone. "Go find Naruto! Sounds like he's got a serious one."

"Right!" The clone agreed before dashing off.

Naruto analyzed the memories from another self-dissipating clone. It had gone the deepest and was still several yards from the victim with no caves leading directly to him.

"Dammit, Sakura where are you?" Naruto muttered.

"Naruto!" The Sakura clone called out as she arrived. "The boss sent me. She's dealing with a critical case right now."

"You're a shadow clone? That's actually better. I need you to follow a pair of my clones down into the collapsed structure. There is a man trapped down there that none of my clones can get to, but some of your monster strength lifting one of the concrete platforms at just the right angle might make the opening we need." Naruto explained quickly, the clock was ticking.

"Got it, Naruto-kun. Oh, and-" the clone stopped to bonk him on the head. "Stop saying that!" She scolded.

"Ok, ok, sorry..." He said with his hands on his head in surrender. The Sakura clone smirked in approval and followed the nervous looking Naruto clones down into the crumbling structure below.

 _'I can never catch a break, can I?'_ Naruto thought to himself as he watched the three clones disappear into the ruins.

 _ **'Pregnancy hormones, Kit. She's just a little more on edge now than normal. Don't fret'**_ Kurama assured.

 _'Right...'_

Meanwhile in the ruins, the Sakura clone was being led by the two Naruto clones who had taken their brother's collective knowledge to find the most ideal location for the Sakura clone to use her monster strength.

"How deep are we going?" The Sakura clone asked the twin Naruto's.

"We're nearly there." One of the clones replied.

The lone female clone nodded. Going over in her head how much chakra she had to work with. The boss had given her enough to stabilize any severely injured patient, within reason. Subtract however much she would use in lifting some ten-ton slab and the patient would need to be in movable condition for her to be of any major use. Otherwise the boss would have to send down more clones or at worst case, come down herself. The Sakura clone hoped that it wouldn't come to the latter. The boss had a baby on the way and it was getting really cramped in here.

Just then, all of their tricorders started making a warning beep noise. "Shit! He's flat lining!" One of the Naruto clones exclaimed as they picked up the pace. They ran as fast as they could until they reached a slab blocking their way.

"Move!" The Sakura clone demanded. She quickly moved aside the slab, only to find more rubble in their way. "Fuck me sideways..."

"Gladly." One of the clones replied in a sultry voice. His twin slapped him upside the head just lightly enough not to dissipate him.

"Help her, you idiot!" The twin shouted as it ran up to the Sakura clone's side to help it remove the rubble.

The perverted clone soon joined them and in no time the rubble was cleared enough to create a man sized hole for them to crawl in.

"Age before beauty." The second Naruto clone said as it shimmied its way down the hole.

"Why me..." The Sakura clone grumbled.

Down in the hole it was so dark that the second Naruto clone was forced to make a Rasengan just so he could see worth a damn.

There, not 5 yards away was their victim, barely breathing and with his leg pinned underneath a massive slab of concrete.

"Sakura, get down here quick!" The clone called up.

She quickly made it down and surveyed the damage done to the man. After a quick assessment, she got into a cold sweat. "I don't think there is anything I can do here. He has a piece of rebar through his neck, massive internal bleeding, his left arm has been severed and his femoral arty is punctured."

The barely living Andorian stirred as he looked over to the people next to him. "J-just...kill me... I deserve...it..." The man wheezed out.

Both clones were surprised to find that the man was conscious.

"Just stay calm sir, my partner and I are going to get you out safely. I'm Doctor Sakura Haruno and this is Ensign Naruto Uzumaki of the Starfleet ship Enterprise." The Sakura clone stated.

"Y-you...don't understand... I'm... part of the group... that attacked..."

"Just save your strength. Anything you have to say can wait until we get you out of here." The Sakura clone stated firmly. She approached the wounded man and got to work assessing his vitals.

"Can you tell me your name, sir?"

"H-Ha'Tol... I didn't want to hurt anyone... I deserve to die..."

"Ha'Tol, alright, very good. Can you tell me where you are? What city we are in?" The Sakura clone asked as she signaled to the Naruto clone to come closer, which he did.

"Dissipate to let your original know that I'll need more of you down here. Also tell my original that I'll need some sisters down here if we want to save this priority patient that could have vital intel." She whispered into Naruto's ear. The clone nodded and quickly undid the jutsu. The next thing the Sakura clone knew, the other Naruto one had jumped down into the hole and produced his own Rasengan to grant them light.

"We got your message. If I know the boss, he's sending word to your original as we speak." The clone assured.

The Sakura clone nodded as she finished sealing the man's severed arm. Ensuring that it was no longer a bleed factor.

"I'm in a pit of rubble... under the city of... Shandra."

"Very good, by any chance can you tell me the star date used by Starfleet?"

"N-not off... the top of ... my head..."

"It was worth a shot, for the most part I'm pretty sure your mind is all there, so that's good." The Sakura clone explained as she got to work returning all of the man's internal blood back where it was supposed to be.

"Naruto, can you create a tiny Rasenshuriken to cut the rebar in his neck? Just don't remove it. It's the only thing keeping him from bleeding out through his neck."

"Not without wasting chakra creating another Shadow Clone or going Kyuubi mode, which would drain my chakra even faster. I can however cut it with wind chakra."

The Sakura clone nodded. "Perfect, do it." She said as she began working on stabilizing the man's femoral artery.

The Naruto clone got right to work, gripping the rebar beneath the man's neck and imagining two opposing forces scraping together. Cuts began to slice through the metal.

"You two... have weird powers... Are you part of the Q Continuum?" Ha'Tol Asked.

"No idea what that is. We are a part of Star Fleet, that's all we are allowed to say." The Naruto clone answered while still attempting to cut through the rebar. Whatever this metal was made of was sturdy stuff.

"You'll... need to use your phaser for that... That is tritanium..."

"Damn, I think he's right. Stand back Sakura." The Naruto clone ordered as he whipped out his phaser and set it to kill.

"Wait! There is a cutting setting on that. If you set it to kill, the energy dispersion will kill him." Sakura stated.

The Naruto clone paused and then double checked his phaser to see that yes, there was a setting to cut.

"Whew, thanks Sakura-chan." The clone said sheepishly.

"What would you do without me." The Sakura clone winked.

"Accidentally kill the survivor we're trying to rescue." The clone deadpanned.

"Probably."

The two clones got back to work. Sakura halfway done with stabilizing the man's artery while Naruto had soon cut through the rebar like butter.

As soon as that was done, the two had to catch the poor man's head and gently place him on the cold hard ground.

"Why would you risk your lives to save a terrorist... I'm not worth saving..."

"On the contrary, since you're a terrorist, you have all kinds of Intel on who caused this attack and why. Therefore, saving you so you can be interrogated later is in our best interests." The Naruto clone explained as the Sakura clone continued her work on the man's artery.

"Heh heh... I should have known... Very well... So long as you get them... before more innocent lives are taken..."

"Don't worry, we will, starting with yours." The Sakura clone said simply, the man's artery almost 75% healed. _'Where the Hell are the others clones?'_ Clone Sakura thought.

"Hey Naruto, where is our back up?" The Sakura clone said aloud, her chakra was running low and probably wouldn't be enough to stabilize this guy on her own.

"No idea." He admitted. A minute passed before the Naruto clone started blinking as if instantly recalling something important.

"One of my brothers got dispersed. Seems that they found three kids trapped underneath some rubble a few blocks away from here. The boss went over there to supervise it personally and the original Sakura sent in three clones. We're on our own for now."

"Shit." The Sakura clone stated. She quickly stopped working.

"W-why'd you stop?" Ha'Tol asked nervously.

"Because I need to conserve my energy so that we can plan our next move." Clone Sakura stated. She and Clone Naruto sat closely together, illuminated by the light of his Rasengan. They both couldn't help but imagine that under different circumstances their originals might think this situation romantic.

"So what's our next move?" Clone Naruto spoke up.

Clone Sakura sighed. "He's not stabilized quite yet. I don't have nearly enough chakra to do so, but I've bought him some time. The only thing left keeping him trapped is his foot stuck underneath the slab. So I'm thinking if I amputate his foot. We could carry him-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Amputation? No, absolutely not!" Ha'Tol exclaimed.

The two clones turned to look at their alleged terrorist/victim.

"I'm sorry, but it is our best chance of getting you back to the medical tent. If we don't act quickly you could die." The Sakura clone explained.

"Yeah, but not if you have to cut off my foot to do it. There has got to be another way." Ha'Tol asked desperately.

"Excuse me, but when did your opinion factor into it?" Clone Naruto asked sternly. "Last I checked, you claimed to be one of those responsible for this whole mess and was all guilty about it."

"Yeah, I was alright, I still am. But please, don't take my foot!" He begged.

"Oh my rabbit goddess, he can't be serious." Clone Naruto sighed.

Clone Sakura looked at the man, then back to his foot still trapped underneath the rubble and then back to him.

"Perhaps if I lifted the slab and you pulled him out..." She thought aloud.

The Naruto clone looked at his companion like she was one of those deformed clones.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious, Naruto." She stated firmly.

"Yes, please, let's try that." Ha'Tol said with a hint of desperate hope in his voice.

"Oh come on, you've already lost your arm." The Naruto clone pointed out. "What's losing a foot?"

"I DON'T CARE!" The man cried, the two clones began to see streaks of tears running down his cheeks underneath the pale blue glow of the Rasengan.

"I JUST DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FOOT, SO PLEASE..." He begged. The man who wouldn't beg for his life, would shed so many pathetic tears to keep his broken foot.

Clone Sakura began rubbing the man's forehead in an attempt to calm him down. While she was doing this she turned to the Naruto clone.

"No matter who he is, he is still my patient. If he refuses treatment, then I have to respect that. I will respect that." Clone Sakura stated firmly.

The Naruto clone looked at her for a couple of seconds to see if he could sense any doubt behind her words. He knew he wouldn't.

"Alright then, what's the plan?"

"If we can't amputate, our only option is to try to free his foot the hard way." Clone Sakura then crouched down so that Ha'Tol could understand her perfectly.

"You have been down here a very long time, which means there is a very serious risk of crush syndrome." Sakura stated.

"W-what's that?" The man stuttered.

"Basically your foot has been cut off from the rest of your circulatory system and it's killing your muscles. Those dying muscles create poisons that will be released into your system if we free your foot. Those poisons could stop your heart." Clone Sakura explained.

"I know some techniques that could stop the poisons from spreading, but I'm the only one strong enough to lift the slab so that Naruto can pull you out and I can't do both..." Clone Sakura thought aloud.

"Wait Sakura, if it's super strength you need. I should be able to activate my Sage mode and take care of the heavy lifting." Clone Naruto stated.

Clone Sakura's eyes lit up when she realized that they were back on a planet with nature for him to draw energy from.

"That's perfect." She exclaimed. Clone Naruto smiled and immediately assumed his meditative stance.

While he was gathering energy, Clone Sakura returned her attention to Ha'Tol.

"I should warn you now. When we do this it's going to hurt. Like your foot falling asleep times a million. My jutsu will be focused on preventing the poisons from spreading, not on numbing your pain. Do you understand?"

Nervously, Ha'Tol nodded.

"We can't knock you out and we can't stop until we get you to the medical tent. The next hour is going to suck."

"Ok...I understand..." Ha'Tol whispered.

"I'm ready." Clone Naruto said, his pupils turned into that of a toad's.

Clone Sakura nodded as Clone Naruto positioned himself in front of the crack in the slab, ready to lift.

Sakura activated the necessary version of the mystic palm technique.

"Ready." She stated.

With a great heave, Clone Naruto utilized his Sage mode to lift the impossibly heavy slab with all his might. It was nothing like what the original had done when he lifted the giant stone toads on Mount Myoboku. This was an entire building bearing down upon him. The clone of Naruto however would not quit and slowly the slab began to release pressure off of Ha'Tol.

Sakura was knelt right besides Ha'Tol's legs. Her one hand held against his calf muscles to stop the spread of the poisons in his muscles and the other gripping his waist belt, trying to pull him free at the same time.

Slowly, ever so slowly...

"I-I think it's working!" Ha'Tol cheered.

Clone Naruto was about to agree, when he began to feel a slight tremor in the slab, then a series of memories came crashing in about his brothers being killed by an explosion and the ceiling began collapsing on top of them.

* * *

Back in the medical tent, Sakura and the rest of the medical team paused when they heard the far off explosion coming from where Naruto was.

Sakura was quickly flooded with a memory of one of her clones being crushed by debris while trying to save a trapped patient.

 _'Naruto, please be safe.'_ She thought.

* * *

Clone Naruto coughed violently, the dust was so thick it was suffocating him. It was a miracle that he wasn't dispersed when the structure shifted.

As he began to catch his breath he was able to piece together the new memories he had been given by his fallen brothers.

"Sakura-chan!" He shouted into the darkness, not knowing if the Sakura clone he was with was still around or not.

"I'm fine Naruto!" She shouted back, much to The Naruto clone's relief.

"What happened?" She asked as she held up her mystic palm to give off some glowing green light.

"It's bad, on the surface the terrorists came back. They staged an ambush against the aid workers. The boss and my brothers are engaging them, but they have us outflanked." Clone Naruto reported.

"Well this day just gets better and better..." Clone Sakura stated as she checked up on their patient.

The man groaned in agony. He was alive, but...

"His foot is still trapped." Clone Sakura reported.

"Well fuck me sideways..." Clone Naruto stated.

"Gladly." Clone Sakura smirked back. The male clone had to look up at his counterpart's sheer cheek.

"If you two are done flirting..." Ha'Tol said weakly.

The trio couldn't help but all laugh at their predicament. Until more rumbling could be heard and a trail of dust fell on each of their heads. Turning the mood back to serious.

"So what is our next move? Try again?" Clone Naruto suggested.

Clone Sakura tapped her thigh. She looked up and noticed that the ceiling had descended and now they could all barely sit up without hitting their heads.

"This has gotten out of hand. Naruto, head back to the medical tent on foot and bring back some of the boss's Shadow Clones. I'll stay here and monitor Ha'Tol's condition."

"No can do, Sakura-chan." The male clone stated.

She was about to ask what he meant by that when she looked back and saw that the hole that they had dug earlier had caved in.

"Great... now what?" The Sakura clone asked, her energy nearly spent.

The Naruto clone sat deep in thought for a moment.

"We could always disperse ourselves. That would let the originals know that he's here and to come save him."

"Excuse me, what do you mean by disperse yourselves? What are you two talking about?" Ha'Tol asked weakly, he finally noticed that something was off in the way the two of them spoke.

The clones stared at one another, unsure about what to say.

Clone Naruto finally found the words.

"The two of us... aren't actual Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. We are their clones."

"Clones? Like from a lab?" Ha'Tol asked, his voice growing weaker by the minute.

"No. Actually we are the products of our original's jutsu. I guess you could call it magic. Our originals are able to create as many of us Shadow Clones as they want. The catch is that if we sustain even minor damage, we disappear into a puff of smoke and all our memories get transferred back to our creators." Clone Naruto explained. It wasn't often that you got to give an in depth explanation about your existence.

"So when you were talking about your brothers and sisters..."

"Yes."

"So why don't you both just kill yourselves and go get me some more help?" Ha'Tol asked, his patience starting to wear thin.

"Because, the exit caved in and I'm not certain that our siblings will be able to find you again in time." Clone Sakura stated.

"And come to think of it. I'm not sure my original would prioritize saving you over all the other victims. Plus, he's still fighting your buddies on the surface." Clone Naruto chimed in.

"Which brings us back to you." The female clone stated.

"We tried it your way, but now we have to amputate."

Ha'Tol just stared at her, using every last shred of willpower to try and keep a stern face.

"N-no..." He stuttered.

"You don't have a choice this time." The Naruto clone said as he powered up his phaser, to which Clone Sakura looked at Clone Naruto in confusion.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Using the cut setting on this to take his foot off. I don't know much about medicine, but it should be a clean cut and it would cauterize the wound and keep him from bleeding out. It's going to hurt like hell, though."

"Wait a minute, Naruto." Sakura said. "Ha'Tol. Do you have family? A wife, children?"

"I did... But our leader killed them so that I would remain loyal..." Ha'Tol said in bitter sadness.

"That sucks, but what does that have to do with anything?" The Naruto clone asked impatiently.

"Relax." Sakura scolded. "I'm so sorry to hear that. But, wouldn't you want to help us take down the bastards that did this?"

"I do, alright."

"And its most likely that even if we don't cut your foot off here, it would be removed later. It's been under too much pressure for too long and its more than likely dead now."

"B-b-but what you're saying is that there still is a chance...?" He choked.

"Medically speaking, there isn't enough of a chance to save your foot without major complications in the long run."

Ha'Tol's lips quivered as she said that, his last scrap of hope to stand on and she had pulled it right out from under him.

"It's just a foot..." She stated.

"Naruto, hand me the phaser."

Naruto handed off the phaser to Sakura. "It's all set."

Clone Sakura took the phaser which had never felt so heavy before. She gave the top red button a push so that they could all hear the sound of the cutter buzz throughout their cramped little pit in the ground.

"Hold him down." She ordered.

Naruto nodded and held down the flailing man as he screamed in pain.

In seconds it was done. Sakura did a quick scan of the area to reassure that it had been cauterized. She then worked on numbing the pain a little bit.

"Ok, he's free, now we just need to figure out how to get out of here."

"That I don't know. Not without crushing us."

"Is your combadge still working? Mine was busted in the cave in." Clone Sakura asked.

Naruto looked on his checked to see that his badges was still intact. "Should be." Naruto said as he took it off and handed it to Sakura.

Clone Sakura took the badge and held it up to her face.

"This is Ensign Clone Sakura Haruno of the USS Enterprise. Can anyone read me, over?"

"This is Data. Go ahead."

"Oh Data, thank God. Listen, I am trapped beneath some rubble with a Naruto clone and a priority level survivor. Who may have vital intel on the terrorists who orchestrated the attack."

"Understood. Transfer your coordinates to my tricorder. I will contact Lt. Worf and Captain Picard."

"Right...how do I do that?"

"Let me. Worf taught me how." Naruto said as he pressed several buttons on the small device.

"Coordinates received. Help will arrive soon. Data out."

"And now we wait." Clone Naruto stated.

"Perhaps you two can tell me a little about yourselves. The Andorians were one of the first species of the Galaxy to ally themselves with the Federation, but sadly, there are some who do not share their ideals." Ha'Tol said.

"Namely you, I'd imagine." The Naruto clone stated with disdain.

"No, you're wrong. I was forced into this. I was a simple trader and was taken hostage during a terrorist attack. At first, I refused to help them, but they said that if I wanted my family to live, I had to pledge my loyalties to them. They are part of the Maquis Alliance. Little did I know that my family had already been killed."

"And how did you find out that your family was killed?" Clone Naruto asked.

"... A distant relative I met one day... He told me my wife and 4 children were murdered a week later..." Ha'Tol sobbed.

Sakura fought the urge to cry with him, instead, she rubbed his remaining arm to comfort him.

Clone Naruto however, wasn't so convinced.

"So if you already knew they had killed your family, why did you go along with the attack today?"

"Because I've only been with them for a week and a half..."

"So you'll forgive me if your story doesn't sound fishy."

"I know you're skeptical, but that's all I can say for now."

"I don't think it is. If you truly are genuine, then tell us everything from the beginning. We've got plenty of time."

Ha'Tol sighed. "Very well... Well, in truth, I had been with them for years. It was true, I shared the same ideals they have about the Federation." Ha'Tol confessed. "But I joined them under the same circumstances. I was taken by the Maquis as a hostage and they threatened to take the lives of my immediate family unless I pledged my allegiance to them completely. It really didn't take much convincing after that point to do what they asked of me. But as the years went on, I grew to resent their ideals. Spreading fear among the Federation, killing innocence at any given moment, all over something completely stupid in hindsight."

"And it was only today of all days that you decided to defect?" Clone Naruto pressed.

"No. I had been planning to leave for some time. Today only solidified my resolve when they decided to use me as a suicide bomber."

At that, the Naruto clone backed waaay the hell up.

"You're not a ghost are you?" He asked heroically from behind Clone Sakura's body.

"Heh, no... But I wish I was. I refused to be their pawn, so I dropped the bombs and tried to run. I had no idea it was wired to remotely detonate."

"You left the bomb in the middle of the street?" Clone Sakura questioned, now she became the one suspicious.

"I panicked, okay? How would you have dealt with something like having a bomb planted on you?"

"Oh don't ask us that. Naruto here would probably run as far away from any other living being as possible, being all self-sacrificing and making me worry half to death." Clone Sakura stated.

Ha'Tol sighed. "What I'm telling you is the truth. I slid the bomb into the sewer after I had thought I deactivated it. When the others saw me do this, they detonated it remotely. I was caught in the blast when a nearby condemned building collapsed. I hate myself for everything that has happened. In reality, I'm just a big coward."

"Yes, you are a coward, but at least you tried to make right by it in the end." The Naruto clone stated.

The man looked up at the clone, surprised at being subtly praised. He dropped down his head and continued his story.

"I used to be a Starfleet engineer who worked at Utopia Planetia shipyards around Mars. I helped engineer the weapons systems on the Nebula and Galaxy class starships, which if my knowledge is correct, your Enterprise is of the Galaxy line. But I retired from that so I could live a simple life as a local goods trader. They took me for my knowledge of federation weaponry."

"And whose they?" Clone Sakura asked.

"The Maquis as I had explained earlier."

"Yes, what else can you tell us about them? Who are their leaders, what is their main base of operation, what their future plans are, anything?"

"You'd have to talk to your captain about that. I was the, low man on the totem pole, as you Earthlings call it. The only 'leader' I know of is the commander of this cell of the Maquis."

"Welp, so much for that." Clone Naruto said as he pulled out a kunai.

"W-what are you doing...?"

"Killing you and dissipating afterwards." Clone Naruto explained as he lunged for Ha'Tol's exposed neck.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH! Why?!"

"You're useless to us and it would be a waste to try and rescue you now. We got all the Intel were going to get out of you." Clone Naruto explained as his blade cut into Ha'Tol's skin.

"Naruto! Stop it!" Clone Sakura said.

'Trust me.' Clone Naruto signaled to Clone Sakura with their Leaf hand signs.

"Back off, Sakura!" Clone Naruto shouted before turn back at Ha'Tol with a crazed look in his eyes.

"Now tell us what you know!"

"I'm serious! I don't know anyone other than the commander of this cell! I swear!"

"DO YOU?!" Clone Naruto shouted, his eyes flashing blood red.

"YES I SWEAR!"

"Ok then." Naruto returned his kunai to his pouch and sat down.

"What the Hell are you?!"

"Your best friend if you're our ally, and your worst nightmare if you're our enemy." The Naruto clone stated. The Sakura clone rolled her eyes at the clique in his statement.

"Who is the commander of this cell?" Sakura asked sternly.

"The Prime Minister of this city." Ha'Tol said.

"... That's who Captain Picard went to go see..." Sakura gasped in horror.

"Shit, are you certain?" Clone Naruto grabbed Ha'Tol by his jacket and dragged him close.

"It's the truth, I swear!" The man begged.

"Shit, stay here with him. I'm going to disperse and warn the boss." As the Naruto clone made the tiger sign in order to release the jutsu, the Sakura clone slapped his hands away.

"No wait! If what he's saying is true, then we'll need proof for an accusation that big." Clone Sakura explained hastily.

"But every second we waste down here is a second Picard is alone with that terrorist leader!" The Naruto clone reminded his counterpart.

The two clones turned towards the man who was the center of all this. His breath was shallow and he was fading fast. They would need him alive if they were ever going to convince anyone of the truth.

"Our brother and sister are still with Picard, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but I can't Thunder God him out of here. The shock of the travel could kill him in his condition." Clone Naruto replied.

"No, that's not what I mean. Our clones are with Picard and that means he will be safe for now."

"Oh yeah, that is something. But unless one of us dissipates, they won't know exactly what kind of danger Picard is in." Clone Naruto reminded her.

"I can't stay here alone with him. Not because he's a threat, but because this whole place could cave in."

"Damn." Naruto pulled out his combadge. "Ensign Clone Uzumaki to Data, where are you guys?"

"We are nearing the square where the bomb went off. What is the subjects condition?"

Clone Naruto looked at Sakura who could only shake her head.

"Not good, we need a rescue ASAP."

The clone then signaled to his counterpart with hand signs.

'Do we tell them to watch out for the President?'

'Over the radio? No, it could be overheard by the President and we can't risk tipping him off.' She signed back.

"What were you able to find out?"

"A great deal, but it's sensitive information." Naruto stated.

"Acknowledged. We are nearing your position now. Data out."

"ETA?" He asked hopefully.

"...at our current excavating rate, 37 minutes."

"He's not going to last that long!" Sakura called.

"Fuck! We need a plan!" Clone Naruto yelled in frustration. Frantically he started clawing at the pile of rubble where their exit used to be, only for the slabs to shift again and fall a few inches lower.

"Naruto, stop it!" The Sakura clone ranted. "The structure is weak as it is. If you go randomly digging into it, it'll just collapse on top of us."

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

"Nothing, we can't do anything as it is. We'd need some kind of support beams to hold up the ceiling if we would want to clear away the rubble." The female clone explained.

To emphasize her point, a lone pebble fell on the Naruto clone's head.

"THAT'S IT!" He shouted.

"What? Wait, you're not going to summon something, are you?"

"No, not exactly, I'm going to create several Shadow Clones to act as pillars. Giving you and whatshisface time to dig your way out."

"Ha'Tol..."

"No Naruto you can't! It's too risky!" Clone Sakura cried in a dramatic tone.

"Are you being serious right now, Sakura-chan?" The Naruto clone asked.

Clone Sakura snorted. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. We're clones, who cares of we die? It's a decent plan, let's do it."

"What are you people? You act like the warriors from Element. I met 40 years ago." Ha'Tol said.

The two Elementians paused to look at the Andronian.

"Well aren't you full of surprises?" The Naruto clone commented. He crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A single Naruto clone appeared and immediately positioned itself underneath the ceiling where the elder shadow clones began digging.

"To answer your question, we are from Element." The Sakura clone said.

Ha'Tol went wide eyed and then chuckled dryly. "Funny how life works... I helped a blonde woman from Element out of a tough situation and here you two are doing the same 40 years later."

 _'A blonde woman?'_ The Sakura one thought. She shook the thought aside, she needed to focus. Otherwise the entire building could cave in on them.

"I thought maybe you could be her children, considering you two have her amazing strength. But seeing you two interact with one another, that blew that theory out the window..." Ha'Tol said to himself as he reminisced memories of his past.

Meanwhile, the two clones continued to dig, their fingers turning raw from all the jagged rocks. If they weren't careful they would dissipate.

Finally, they managed to move enough rubble to open a cave leading back to the path they took.

"That should be enough." Clone Sakura said.

"Ha HA! Now here we go!" Clone Naruto shouted in glee. They were making progress and it felt so good.

Then a thought came to Ha'Tol. "Either of you have the time?" He asked.

"It's almost 1400 hours. why?" Sakura responded after looking at her tricorder. Then Ha'Tol went wide eyed.

"Oh no..."

"Oh God, what now?" Clone Naruto sighed.

"At 14:10, the Maquis are going to bomb the capital. They are rigging stolen photon torpedoes to detonate at that moment."

"And now you get to tell me why the both of us shouldn't leave you down here for lying!" Clone Naruto shouted.

"What did I lie about exactly?! I never said the attacks would stop and I had nothing to do with the one that is coming. That is information I overheard my higher ups say and was going to report it."

"You could have told us about it! You said you only knew about your own bombing, but now out of nowhere there is another attack scheduled for today that, whoops, you failed to mention!" Clone Sakura ranted, her patience now spent.

"After everything I've been through recently, even you have to understand that certain things get overlooked."

"If we weren't the originals I would teleport us out and leave you here!" Clone Naruto shouted.

"Forget it! It's not worth it!" Clone Sakura said as she snatched her teammate's combadge.

"Clone Ensign Haruno to Data! Come in!"

"Data here."

"The Marquis are going to bomb the capital with Photon torpedoes at 14:10! You need to abandon us and focus on evacuating the capital!"

"Are you certain of this?"

"We're clones! We have no value! And when we do die the originals will gain our memories so there is no loss!"

"Understood. Data out."

The Sakura clone took the combadge and threw it against the wall, the device exploded into a puff of smoke. She knew she had just sent away their only chance of rescue.

"Listen, for what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier... But I honestly didn't remember until now... I hope everyone gets out safe..."

"Well we can take solace in the fact that if anyone dies because of those bombs it will definitely be you." The Sakura clone harshly spat.

The Naruto clone sat nearby in a similar state.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but if I die due to anything you could have prevented, Starfleet will look at that as negligence. I wonder how well your court-martial will go... I was once a captain for the record." Ha'Tol spat back.

The Naruto clone then sat up and took his spot next to his clone brother.

"You...and Star Fleet...and their court martials, can go FUCK THEMSELVES!" He shouted as he stabbed his brother in the chest, dissipating him. The ceiling started to crumble but the remaining Naruto clone held it up.

"There, now all my brothers know about the President and everything else you told us." Naruto said in an exhausted sigh.

"Well, at least that's something." Sakura said.

"Yeah, so now that all the loose ends are tied up..." The Naruto clone made his famous hand sign again and three Naruto clones burst into existence.

"Are you going to kill me?... Humph... Do it then... I have nothing left to live for. I can die knowing that my family will be avenged and that no more innocent lives will be hurt or taken..."

"Oh don't flatter yourself. I'm not going to kill you; I'm going to save your sorry ass." The 1st Naruto clone spat as his brothers began digging with renewed fury.

"Who's flattering who? I want to die..."

"Well too fucking bad. You're going to live, asshole. Me and Sakura-chan here are going to personally drag your remaining broken limbs out of this hole and heal you up good. So you can limp proudly towards whatever court you have to face and be tried for terrorism. Then and only then will the two of us dissipate and share these memories with our originals."

"I think not... I have said all I wanted to say." Ha'Tol stated before pulling out a small hand phaser and aiming it to his head. "I was glad to meet another pair of Elementians. It's a shame we didn't get to know each other on better terms. Farewell, my friends." The man closed his eyes and before either of the clones could stop him he pulled the trigger…

And it didn't fire.

The two clones just sat there staring at the man with the broken phaser in his hand. Even the new Naruto clones had stopped digging to get a load of this suicidal idiot.

"Motherfucker did you just try to pussy out?" Clone Sakura stated, she cracked her knuckles that resonated throughout the tiny cavern.

"Heh... I know that look... You look just like the blonde woman, even the purple mark on your head is the same." He chuckled and coughed.

"Wait, what?" One of the Naruto clones asked.

"Don't try to change the subject!" Clone Sakura shouted as she grabbed the man by the collar and held him exactly three feet in the air, which was as high as the ceiling went at that point.

"You got wrapped up with terrorists, left a bomb in the middle of a city street meant to kill innocents, got your own pathetic-self trapped in your own bomb, and now you have hampered our every effort at saving your ass! You don't GET to kill yourself!"

"I'm sorry, but I must have missed something... Since when does a Human get to tell me what to do? If I choose to end my life, then I will..."

Clone Sakura dug her finger tips into the man's shoulders, sending him unimaginable pain signals careening through his body directly into his nervous system. The pain was white, hot, and blinding and no matter how hard the man tried he could not gather the oxygen necessary to even scream.

She spoke to him in a deadly serious voice, the kind she only used on those that threatened her loved ones. "We're not humans. We are collections of chakra given human form. And you WILL do as we say for as long as we need you. Understand?"

"...do what you will with me... I will cooperate no longer..."

 _'Ooooo... Shouldn't have said that...'_ One of the Naruto clones thought.

"Wanna bet?" Sakura whispered.

The Sakura clone then strong armed the man's hand up between both their faces.

"Let's make that your last suicide attempt, huh?" She said in a sickly sweet voice. One by one she placed her finger over each of Ha'Tol's individual digits and pushed them back until that snapped like twigs.

"GAAAAH! YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

"... What did you call her...?" One of the Naruto clones growled.

"Hey, that's for my boyfriend's personal use. Thank you very much." Clone Sakura said in a slightly bored tone. She had heard far more colorful insults during her time with ANBU.

"Ugh... (sigh). I'm sorry I said that..." Ha'Tol gasped.

"No you're not..." The clone said in monotone as she started to bend his palm backwards. "Not yet anyway..."

"Alright, alright... I get it..."

 **SNAP!**

The Sakura clone pushed against the man's hand so hand his actual palm broke in half.

"AAAAAAHHHHH! GOD DAMMIT!"

"Whoops, sorry about that. I just wanted to make absolutely sure you couldn't grip anything with that hand. I could have just cut it off in one quick motion, but I know how you feel about amputation."

"You gotta be kidding me! It's going to take me YEARS to regenerate now!" The Andorian exclaimed.

"Oh so you can regenerate now? Well then maybe I should just amputate all your limbs after breaking them. It would definitely make you lighter." Clone Sakura mused.

"No! Please! No more... No more!"

"No more?" Clone Sakura asked in a childlike tone, as if she was unfamiliar with the concept of mercy.

"Please... N-no more..." The Andorian begged as tears ran down his face.

"Sakura-chan... Stop..." The Naruto clone said.

Clone Sakura looked back at the four Naruto clones that had all gathered around her. Each with a more worried expression on their face then the last.

"Ok, Naruto... I'll stop." Clone Sakura said, her voice weary from so much threatening.

"Ha'Tol... You must understand. We've been through a great deal to save your life and for you just to throw all of our hard work away by offing yourself rubs us the wrong way." Naruto said softly.

"I- I know... And I'm sorry... I just have nothing left in my life... My life is meaningless now..."

"No it's not... Tell you what. During your trial, I can make a movement to have to serve Starfleet to give them any and all information in bringing down this terrorist cell." Naruto said, to which Ha'Tol nodded.

"Naruto, why are you showing him sympathy? He's a murderer and a terrorist!" The Sakura clone spat.

" No... He's a victim of unfortunate circumstances. If someone was holding you and our child hostage and I had no powers, I would have done something similar..."

"No you wouldn't, the man I know would have found another way..." Sakura stated.

"I had no other way... It was either I serve them, or the lives of myself and my family would be forfeit... But, I was tricked... After a year of loyalty to them, they killed my family anyway..." Ha'Tol cried.

"What if there wasn't another way, Sakura-chan? What would you have done if you were in his shoes? No ninja training, no chakra, just a simple civilian without a care in the world with a loving family until it was suddenly being taken away from you."

She looked at him in desperate silent plea. "There must be another way." She wanted to say, but one look in Naruto's eyes and she knew the answer.

"I want you to drop this subject and heal his hand. Threatening him is one thing, but what you did was too far..." Clone Naruto said.

"If you were the original and he put you through this kind of danger, I would have done worse..." Clone Sakura said with disdain.

"As would I, but I still want you to heal him."

Clone Sakura looked at her counterpart dead in the eye and knew this was one argument she wasn't' going to win.

"Fine, just get back to digging. We need to save this guy before our chakra levels run dry. Otherwise this entire rescue mission was just pointless bickering." Clone Sakura sighed.

Clone Naruto nodded and resumed digging while Sakura tended to her patient once again.

For about 10 minutes nobody said anything. The Naruto clone's silently cleared away pile after pile of broken rock and metal rebar.

Meanwhile the Sakura clone had nearly finished healing Ha'Tol's hand. Using only the bare minimum of chakra necessary to set the bones back in their proper place so that they could heal on their own.

"So I get the distinct impression that you knew my master." Sakura spoke up after 15 minutes of complete silence.

"Depends on if your master is the blonde woman with the purple diamond on her forehead. I can't remember her name."

"And breasts the size of your head?" Sakura finished for him. She wasn't a prune; she knew her master's reputation very well.

Ha'Tol blushed a deeper shade of blue. "Um... They weren't that big when I met her. It was 40 years ago."

"Insanely bad luck when it comes to gambling?" Clone Sakura tried again, as if it weren't already obvious.

"That sounds familiar. Always lost to me playing Dabo."

"That's my master alright. Lady Tsunade is her name."

"That's it! Tsunade... I remember her well. She was also with this man with long white hair. Very perverted, red markings on his face... The hell was his name..."

"Jirayia." Clone Sakura answered as the Naruto clones were still busy digging.

"Ah, yes. He was a good friend of mine. I bet he's still peeping on the woman as we speak." Ha'Tol chuckled.

"He's dead. He died fighting an incredibly powerful enemy of the Leaf's." Clone Sakura explained simply. She was too tired for any long winded explanations.

"Oh... I'm so sorry to hear that..." Ha'Tol said sadly. "And Tsunade?"

"She's alive. She's now the 5th Hokage of my village and the Head Medic to boot."

"I see she's come a long way over the years since she and Jirayia served with me on the Enterprise C."

Clone Sakura looked at the man with a curious expression, maybe not as curious as that kind of revelation deserved though.

"That explains so much and yet so little." She mused.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I mean, me and Naruto get compared to our masters so often you'd think we were their children. And now low and behold, it turns out we've now been assigned a similar mission as them. Don't tell me they were assigned as bodyguards to their ship's captain."

"No. They were actually part of an inter-social experiment to see how they would cope with more advanced technology and different situations. They adapted quite well."

Clone Sakura had a flash memory of her master drinking herself into a coma on a regular Tuesday and Master Jirayia being chased out of another bathhouse.

"Somehow I doubt that very much."

"What makes you say that?"

"Experience." She said simply as she finished healing his hand.

"There, how do you feel?"

"Better. But I will feel better when this cell gets taken down."

"Don't worry. If there's one thing you can count on in this universe. It's my boyfriend's promises." Clone Sakura smirked.

Ha'Tol smiled slightly. "That's good to hear." Ha'Tol then closed his eyes and had seemed to be resting. The majority of his pain dulled enough to not be noticeable.

Sakura patted the man on the hand.

"NARUTO, HOW'S THE TUNNEL COMING ALONG?!" Clone Sakura shouted down the tunnel, her voice echoing throughout.

"NEARLY THERE!" Clone Naruto shouted back.

The cave began to shake and Clone Sakura held her breathe. The Naruto clones all scrambled to get into position to intercept the ceiling.

The concrete slab overhead slipped towards Clone Sakura and Ha'Tol's head.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" The Shadow Clones yelled.

Clone Sakura stood up and with her remaining strength, caught the slab. "I GOT IT!"

The Naruto clones all breathed a sigh in relief. Their moment was short lived though.

"What the Hell are you boys standing around for? GRAB HIM!" The Sakura clone shouted through grit teeth.

One of the Naruto Clones dashed and grabbed Ha'Tol and moved him to safety. "Clear!"

Another clone made its way over to where the Sakura clone was and took up his position next to her to bear her weight.

"Go! GO!" He shouted. Clone Sakura nodded and scrambled for the newly created tunnel exit. The ceiling bucked under the weaker clone acting as a pillar, but gave Clone Sakura all the time she needed to escape into the next room. Where the three remaining Naruto clones were busy frantically digging through the next pile of rubble.

Above the trapped survivors, the ceiling wouldn't stop shaking, this was it.

"Sakura-chan, hold on to whatshisface and keep moving no matter what!" One of the clones ordered. "Let us deal with the digging."

"Don't have to tell me twice, Naruto!"

The Clone nodded and another charged up a Rasengan. He slammed it right into the wall of rubble and began drilling though it. The power of the spiral chakra sphere kicked up a hail wave of pebbles that shot off like bullets. One of them found their mark and killed one of the Naruto clones.

"Damnit, come on!" The clone hissed through gritted teeth. He powered through determined to be rid of this damn hole once and for all.

Finally, the clone broke through to the next room. His brother stood up to bare the weight of the ceiling as Clone Sakura threw Ha'Tol's arm over her shoulder to drag him into the next room.

"Where is our rescue party?!" One of the Naruto clones said.

"I wish I knew. I... kinda destroyed our remaining communicator..." Clone Sakura said sheepishly.

"You ordered them to abandon us and focus on evacuating the capital, remember?" Ha'Tol wheezed out.

"Oh... That's right. Sorry, with everything going on, I kinda forgot that." Clone Sakura said.

Inside the room, actually it couldn't even be called a room, the ceiling was no higher than 2 feet. The clones literally had to crawl along the floor just to make headway. Clone Sakura dragging Ha'Tol the entire way.

"I'd kill for an excavator right about now." Sakura commented.

"I'd kill for a three-foot-high ceiling." The remaining Naruto clone answered back.

"I'd kill to get the hell out of here." Ha'Tol said.

The trio chuckled as Naruto renewed digging and Sakura braced herself against the ceiling, her back to the floor and her arms stretched as far up as they could go. She could feel her strength fading fast though. She had minutes...

"Ugh... I'm not gonna last much longer, Naruto." Clone Sakura said.

"Just a bit longer Sakura-chan. We're so close I can..." Clone Naruto paused as if just recalled something terrible.

"Shit, my brother just got caved in. Hold on!" He charged up another Rasengan and got to work on the wall blocking their exit.

"H-hurry! I'm down to seconds now!"

The clone kept drilling and the noise became synonymous with the rumbling. Clone Sakura could feel the ceiling being lowered inch by inch.

The Naruto clone shook off the memories of his second brother being crushed by the rocks, he needed to focus.

Clone Naruto kept drilling and drilling, he could feel himself growing lighter, which was never a good thing for a Shadow Clone.

 _'Come on, just a few...inches...more...'_

The wall gave out and crumbled away, creating a small hole for the clone to peak through. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, the Naruto clone saw natural light streaming down inside the next room.

"HURRY! I'm not going to..." Clone Sakura didn't bet to finish her sentence when she suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" The clone screamed as his longtime companion vanished into thin air. Without her there to support the ceiling, it shook more violently than ever.

"Um, Naruto?" Ha'Tol whimpered as the ceiling began to collapse on top of him.

* * *

Back in the medical tent, Sakura had to pause mid surgery due to an influx of sudden memories from a clone she had forgotten that she created.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" One of the nurses frantically asked.

Before Sakura could reply, a massive crash echoed across the city streets, indicating another cave in.

"Oh no..." Sakura said quietly.

Back underground, Ha'Tol was coughing violently. The dust that had kicked up had once again blanketed his lungs with inch thick soot. This was it, he would surely die down here. Hopefully from choking to death on dust before starving to death or even bleeding out.

"Are you ok, old man?" Came the blond haired clones voice.

 _'Well son of a bitch.'_ Ha'Tol thought with glee.

He rubbed the dust out of his eyes with his wrist to see not one, but three Naruto clones holding up the ceiling, with the hole leading to the outside still uncovered.

"You resourceful son of a bitch." Ha'Tol coughed out with a smirk.

"Praise me later. We can't hold this for very long so climb out of here." One of the clones said as he and his brothers struggled under the weight of the building.

"What do you want me to do?"

"CRAWL DAMMIT!" One of the impatient Naruto clones shouted.

"I'll try."

Ha'tol used his remaining arm and his legs to belly crawl towards the light. He wasn't moving very fast, but he was doing the best he could.

"Hurry..." Another clone begged.

"I'm... doing the best I can..."

The ceiling creaked and groaned eerily.

Hearing that, Ha'Tol used whatever strength he had to quickly scurry along the ground. "I'm almost there..."

The clones all took quick, shallow breaths. _'Just a few more seconds...'_ They all collectively thought.

Ha'Tol shimmied his way up to the hole and tried to push himself through, but there was a problem.

"It's too small!"

 _'Oh just fucking great!'_

"Hit it or something!" One of the clones screamed desperately. They could not come so far to fail now.

Pathetically, Ha'Tol smashed his shoulder against the rocks in a vain attempt to knock them over. His bare fists were no match for the boulders of concrete though.

"It's no use..." He sobbed. "I'm not strong enough..."

The leading Naruto clone cursed. There was no way he could make another clone or spare another one from holding up the ceiling...

 **CRACK!**

That's when he heard the sound of rock being torn apart. That unmistakable sound only the love of his life could make.

He looked up and saw the tiny hole to freedom being forced open wider by two black gloves. She ripped apart the chunks of rock like they were make of Styrofoam.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked like a prayer.

"Give me your hand!" Clone Sakura shouted as she made the whole bigger.

"Sakura-chan! Is Captain Picard safe?!" One of the clones shouted.

"Yes, He's fine! We located the explosives and disarmed them!"

"N-no one else died because of me?" Ha'Tol whimpered.

"No, now give me your hand!" The Sakura clone shouted.

Quickly, Ha'Tol reached out and gripped Clone Sakura's outstretched arm. She then pulled him out just as quickly with her monster strength.

Not a moment too soon, for as soon as Ha'Tol was pulled free, Naruto's clones gave out and the cavern collapsed. Ha'Tol was dragged by his arm out into the beautiful, blinding daylight and the gentle breeze of fresh air.

Clone Sakura wasted no time in scooping up Ha'Tol into a fireman's carry over her shoulders.

"Come on, we need to get you back to the medical tent. My boss is waiting to treat you." Clone Sakura stated simply as if nothing else mattered.

"(sniff) Thank you..." Ha'Tol broke down, happy that he made it out of his collapsing prison.

"You're welcome." The Sakura clone said in a caring and professional voice.

She leapt out of the collapsed structure and into the abandoned city streets. Walking ever so gently towards the medical tent to avoid jostling her patient more than she needed to.

"THANK YOU..." Ha'Tol sobbed. Again and again he thanked her and every time the Sakura clone simply stated, "You're welcome."

In no time they reached the medical tent. Clone Sakura walked in through the tent flaps and gently laid Ha'Tol down on an empty cot where the real Sakura was waiting.

"Thank you. You're dismissed." Sakura said with a nod and the clone disappeared. "I'm the real Sakura. I can treat your wounds better now, so just relax and I'll get you fixed up."

Sakura began using her mystic palm technique to cut the remain scraps of fabric that was once Ha'Tol's clothes.

"Based on my clone's memories your name is Ha'Tol. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"As far as what? I'm sorry... I'm still a little fuzzy..."

"Ha'Tol, sir? My name is Sakura and I'll be your doctor today. You're in a medical tent and I need you to tell me what's going on. Are you feeling ok?" She spoke as clearly as she could.

"I lost my arm and your clone cut off my foot with your boyfriend's clone's phaser... I'm feeling as good as I can I guess."

"Alright you can remember everything. That's good."

"Yea and I wish I couldn't..." He admitted.

"Well you don't need to worry about that now. I just need you to relax right now and I need you to breathe." She stated in a calming tone. Sakura pulled out a pulse oximeter.

"I'm gonna put this thingy on your finger. It's going to measure your blood oxygen level to make sure that you're breathing ok." She clamped it down on his index finger.

"... You're adapting better than your master. I'm impressed..."

"Thank you. She taught me how to adapt to new equipment and techniques. Plus Dr. Crusher is a great teacher." Sakura said as she continued wordlessly inspecting Ha'Tol for any serious cuts or bruises her clone may have had to overlook.

"I'm inclined to agree."

"Good. Now rest... You'll be helping us take down those bastards when you're healthy." Sakura soothed as Ha'Tol felt himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

Hours later, Sakura and Naruto found themselves back aboard the Enterprise on the command deck.

"Ensign Haruno. Ensign Uzumaki." Picard started as the two ensigns stood at attention.

"Sir!" They both answered.

"Yesterday, you two were put on leave of duty for insubordination. today, I lift that punishment. You two have shown the courage, dedication and compassion I have grown to expect out of those who serve me on this ship. You saved a man who has defected from the Maquis to give us much needed information. Thanks to your efforts for saving him, we were able to take the prime minister into custody and you have saved hundreds of lives."

Around them stood the leading officers of the entire Starship Enterprise. Including Dr. Crusher, Riker, Worf, LaForge, and Data. All of them were smiling with pride at the ship's newest recruits who had taken the entire vessel by storm.

"As such, though it may seem early to Starfleet command, for you outstanding performance and dedication to the ship and crew, as well as to a special little girl-" Picard stopped as he saw Sally in the back of the bridge smiling ear to ear. "-And for saving the many Andorians today, I hereby promote you two to Lieutenant Jr Grade, Effective immediately. With all of the rights and privileges with it."

The Tenchi duo looked at their commanding office in disbelief. Did they both hear that right?

To ensure their ears were correct, Picard handed them a black pip each to be put next to their current rank.

"Congratulations you two. You've earned this. As well as a permanent position as crew members of the USS Enterprise." Captain Picard stated with pride as he extended out his arm for them both to shake.

"P-permanent position...?" Sakura asked in shock

"Of course. You have earned it." Picard offered a rare smile.

"But I thought we were only brought on to serve 5 years?" Naruto asked, equally flabbergasted.

"That was the original term, yes. and You may leave after that time has passed. But, we would all love to see you two stay as long as you want. Starfleet has already approved it and so has your Lady Tsunade."

"W-wow...after only a month?" Naruto said. "I've never been accepted so quickly. It's a lot to think about."

"Take your time. But for now, please accept your ranks. There will be a uniform change as well. Your uniform is essentially the ones that Cadets and first year ensigns wear. Now, You'll have a uniform similar to ours. The replicator in your room will outfit you properly."

"We're honored!" Sakura spoke up for the both of them.

"As is normal. Later on, please join myself and the rest of the senior staff in the captain's mess for a formal dinner. I still owe you that steak, Naruto." Picard said with a smirk.

The blond Ensign-no, Lieutenant Jr chuckled to himself.

"That you do." He said nonchalantly.

Everyone on the bridge clapped and cheered for the two newly promoted ninja's as they both smiled with a slight blush on their faces.

Sally could be seen cheering for them from atop her father's shoulders.

Then, as an unexpected treat for everyone, Sakura and Naruto pulled into each other's embrace for a short and tender kiss, eliciting a cheer from Geordi, which made the two lovers laugh.

* * *

 **Hey everybody, samuraipanda85 here, did you enjoy that chapter? Well if you thought it ended on too much of a happy note then do we have a treat for you. On my page, in the story Naruto and Sakura at Ichiraku's, we have posted the alternative and darker ending to this chapter. Like we went in a completely different direction on that one. So if you want to see how south this mission could have gone, check it out. Then leave a review telling us which ending you liked better or why you thank God that we went with the ending that we did. I'm not saying that we'll retcon that darker ending into our canon if it gets more approval, but we always love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy.**


	13. Chapter 13: Shock and Awe

**Author's Note from Panda: Hey that one reviewer who said you didn't much care for Naruto and Kurama's buddy cop routine and hoped that we weren't trying to muscle Kurama into a bigger role...?**

 **Cue 80s theme song.**

* * *

"Lieutenant Jr Haruno's log: star date... BLEUGH!" Sakura vomited the last part, her morning sickness finally having made an appearance and was making up for lost time.

Sakura wiped up the vomit with her sleeve and continued the audio log.

"...sorry about that. I am now two months into my pregnancy and have only started showing signs of morning sickness in the last few weeks. I have experienced all the usual symptoms of nausea and vomiting, offset by several unusual cravings..." Sakura said as she reminisced about such instances.

* * *

 **Flashback.**

Naruto looked on in horror as Sakura devoured her to 10th bowl of miso pork ramen with extra pork and at least a dozen cans of red bean soup all piled around her.

 _'I don't think anyone will doubt who your baby daddy is now.'_ Inner thought as Sakura slammed her hand down on Naruto's after she caught him try to have his own bowl.

* * *

 **Flash forward...**

"I have also caught myself going through what some would call extreme and random emotional mood swings..."

* * *

 **Flashback.**

"Who said you could have any of my ramen?" Sakura snarled at Naruto with her hand clamped tightly over his.

"S-Sakura-chan. This is my ramen..." Naruto carefully tried to explain.

"NO EXCUSES!" Sakura shouted as she pulled Naruto over the table and cocked her fist back to pound him into the alloy flooring. Naruto instinctively flinched which made Sakura hesitate.

"Naruto...are you...scared of me?" Sakura said shakily.

"D-don't hurt me... I didn't do anything wrong..." Naruto said with fear as he turned his cheek away from Sakura. Bracing for the inevitable punch or slap.

Sakura let him go and burst into tears. "I'm sorry..." She choked.

Naruto looked up from flinching to see Sakura crying.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Sakura sobbed.

"Hey, come on now...Sakura-chan. It's okay." Naruto said, trying his best to calm her down.

"No, it's not okay... I almost smashed your face in for no reason!" Sakura cried.

"It's just the pregnancy talking, Sakura-chan. I know you didn't mean it." Naruto soothed, which began to calm Sakura down.

"Yeah...you're right, it's just the pregnancy talking..." Sakura realized. "Which mean that my behavior is YOUR FAULT!"

"Huh?" Naruto said before being punched in the face.

* * *

 **Flash forward.**

"...unfortunately, these symptoms haven't been contained to mine and Naruto's downtime. I'm embarrassed to report that as of late they have begun to affect my effectiveness as one of Captain Picard's bodyguards..." Sakura reported.

* * *

 **Flashback.**

Sakura, Naruto, and Picard had been invited to a royal feast held by a newly integrated planet into the federation.

As such, Captain Picard was brought in as an honored guest with Sakura and Naruto accompanying him.

Things were going smoothly when Sakura took a sip of her soup and declared. "This tastes like horse shit..."

The trio quickly found themselves up to their necks with spears and surrounded by pissed off guards and offended diplomats. With Picard looking ticked off at Sakura and Naruto chuckling nervously.

* * *

 **Flash forward.**

"...so the Star Fleet Federation has called for a hearing to decide if I should be allowed to continue serving as a bodyguard to Captain Picard. Seems like me and Naruto are never out of hot water on this ship. And it might just be the mood swings talking, but I am feeling rather confident that the committee people are reasonable people." Sakura said.

 **Knock knock knock.**

"Sakura-chan, the hearing is starting soon." Naruto called for her from the other side of the bedroom door.

Sakura switched off her computer terminal. _'Oh joy...'_ Sakura thought as she stood up, but immediately felt dizzy and nauseous. "Ohhhh..." Sakura had to sit down on her bed before she fell on the floor.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with concern. "I'm coming in!" He said as he stepped inside to see Sakura seated.

"Just felt really dizzy..." Sakura said.

Then she felt something coming up. "Bucket! Now!"

Kurama then galloped into the room carrying a stained bucket in his tails and managed to get it underneath Sakura's mouth just in the nick of time.

"BLUEGH!"

"Are you going to be okay for this hearing?" Naruto asked with concern.

"Ugh... I don't... Know... BLUEGH!"

"Do you think that we could get Dr. Crusher to delay the hearing until you are feeling better?" Naruto asked as he rubbed circles into his lover's back.

"Ugh... Or have the hearing in here..." Sakura moaned.

"I don't know; these committee types always seem to love their big conference rooms." Naruto joked. "Do you think they'd go for it?" He asked Kurama.

 **"Would they really have a choice?"** Kurama pointed at Sakura who was still puking in the bucket.

"Good point, hang tight Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he headed for the living room to call Picard.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki to Captain Picard."

"Go ahead." Picard responded, seemingly impatiently.

"Sir, Lieutenant Haruno has been hit with a bad case of morning sickness sir. Would it be at all possible to conduct the formal hearing using our room's computer video conference?" Naruto asked dutifully and respectfully as best he could.

Naruto heard Picard sigh. "Very well... I'll also send in Dr. Crusher to examine her." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"This isn't going to help her case though, Lieutenant. I hope you know that." Picard said before closing the channel.

Naruto rubbed his eyes in frustration. It was bad enough that he had to deal with a sick and crazed Sakura, neither of them needed to deal with a committee and their nonsense right now. He could surely pick up the slack until Sakura-chan delivered their baby, but according to Picard a few council members had been raising hell about letting two Elementians join Star Fleet and Naruto and Sakura's less than stellar first few weeks had given them all the ammunition they needed to start this inquiry.

 _'What did Granny Tsunade always say? 'If it's not one god damn thing, it's another...'?'_

After a short time later, Dr. Crusher came in and examined Sakura.

"Seems to be routine morning sickness. I can give you a mild sedative to ease the nausea." Crusher advised.

"Please..." Sakura all but begged.

Crusher took a Hypospray out of her medical kit and injected it into Sakura's neck. Almost instantly, Sakura felt a wave of relief wash over her.

"Oh man, that's so much better..." Sakura sighed with relief.

 **"A good thing too. They are about to start."** Kurama said without thinking.

"Um, hello..." Dr. Crusher said when she realized that there was a giant talking fox in the room.

 **"Um... Hey..."** Kurama greeted back sheepishly, forgetting that the doctor was here.

"Is this one of your summons, Naruto?" Crusher asked as her eyes inevitably looked at Kurama's many swishing tails.

"Yes, actually." Naruto said quickly.

That was when the screen in the living room came to life. On one side was Captain Picard and Riker, on the other side was a highly decorated Admiral and what seemed to be the President of the Federation.

"Lieutenants, Doctor." Picard greeted. "Allow me to introduce Fleet Amidral Paris, and the President of the Federation, Turrell." Picard introduced.

"A pleasure, sirs." Naruto greeted and Sakura nodded.

"I'm just going to get straight to it." Turrell. started. "Going over your service records so far, I'm less than pleased with your service."

Naruto and Sakura flinched at the Presidents words.

"You two are not the first Elementians to serve the Federation, nor will you be the last, I'm sure. However, your conduct as members of Starfleet overall, is intolerable. I understand that this is a completely new experience for the two of you, but it is no excuse to act unprofessionally in serious situations. Your conduct in the most recent diplomatic mission that costed the Federation any hope of gaining a valuable ally." Turrell said spitefully.

"With all due respect sir, Sakura-chan here is pregnant." Naruto informed.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. However, that is still no excuse for your earlier conduct. Need I remind you of your reckless conduct of going out into open space without help to save the Enterprise." Turrel said.

"In my Lieutenant's defense, diplomats within the Ico government were attempting to poison us with the soup." Picard informed.

Turrell looked at Picard. "That was not in your report, captain."

"The Ico government wished for us to keep the matter quiet until their ongoing investigation into the terrorist cell was identified and neutralized."

"I look forward to hearing more about that." Turrell said before turning back to the Ninja's. "In any case, I've read here that you two have been reprimanded several times over the course of the few months you have been serving on the Enterprise."

"Yes, sir." Sakura confirmed as she held back the latest wave of nausea.

"Let's see here..." Turrell looked over his pad to go over their service records. "Disobeyed direct orders, no once, not twice, but 3 times... Put self in danger for the sake of the ship. Potentially endangered the ship by using jutsu's that had affected the ship, albeit in a positive way. Inappropriate actions on the bridge, and then the recent diplomatic talks with the Ico." He listed off.

"I would also like to mention Uzumaki and Haruno's efforts in responding to the Andoria terrorist attack. They spearheaded the relief effort and uncovered the leader of the terrorist cell. Lieutenant Haruno herself saved countless lives with her medical expertise." Picard spoke up again.

"I was getting to that." Turrell said before looking at the Ninja's again. "Picard is correct, your actions on Andoria was exceptional."

"Thank you, sir." Naruto said.

Turrell set down his pad. "It also got you a promotion so early on in your career. But based on your record, that's only one good deed out of many smudges on your record. While I support your captain's decision in promoting the two of you, I don't see how you could earn such a praise after your rather shit show of a career." Turrell then folded his hands on the desk his was sitting at. "Let me remind you that this ISN'T Element, nor are we a Ninja Corps. In all honesty, I should send you both back to your world and scrub your records from the Federation logs as a big mistake."

"Sir, if I may." Picard interrupted. "I would also like to remind you that within days of joining the crew, Lieutenant Uzumaki saved the crew from an ambush by the Romulans. What was to be a massive psychological blow to the Federation turned into its rallying cry against the Romulans. Naruto single-handedly captured the enemy flagship and turned it on its allies. He saved the entire crew of the Enterprise and the Peterson that day. As well as captured for the Federation the Romulan's most advanced warship that they had hoped would lead them through the coming war." Picard stated.

"One moment." Paris said as he eyed the now seemingly irate Ninja. "However... Going over your records of your Ninja career, you two have done a great deal for not only your village, but your world as a whole. I believe that more than justifies you both being allowed to stay in the Federation. It would be foolish to send you both home when you can so much good for us. But, this will be the last time I say this. The next blemish I see on your records, will be the last and you will be sent home. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Naruto and Sakura answered.

"Now... Onto the matter of Sakura's current physical health." Turrell started.

Sakura and Naruto gulped.

"Captain Picard needs two bodyguards on hand, however in your current state, I don't see how you can accomplish that. That causes a major problem."

"Sir, with all due respect, I am more than capable of handling Sakura-chan's share of the body guarding duty until she is fit for duty again." Naruto stated. Sakura was about to object but then she remembered Naruto's one-man-army approach to using the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that." Turrell refused.

"The agreement with have with the Leaf states that they will provide two bodyguards at our request in exchange for technological advances. While this clause is not violated by any injuries sustained during your service, it does not cover self-inflicted ailments." Turrell sneered.

"Self-inflicted... She's pregnant!" Naruto snapped.

"Regardless, the clause states that there be two active Leaf Shinobi serving under the Enterprise at all times."

"So then we shall just make haste back to Element and recruit a new bodyguard until Lieutenant Haruno recovers." Picard countered.

"I'm afraid that is impossible. The Prime Directive clearly states that only three sentient lifeforms from a non-space fairing planet may be aware of the existence of the Federation. So unless Lady Tsunade Senju wishes to step down from her position as Hokage and disappear from the public eye for 9 months, I do not see how you could produce a backup member. Therefore, your contract is void and you Elementians must be returned home at once." Turrell stated.

 **"That won't be necessary."** Kurama said as he came into view.

"And who might this be? I was not aware that the Enterprise allowed pets." Turrell scoffed.

 **"I am no pet."** Kurama growled.

"Silence beast. Picard, explain this."

"I'm afraid I don't know who or what that is." Picard said honestly.

 **"I am Kurama. Known on our world as the 9 Tailed demon Fox."**

"He's my...summons. Well, one of my summons." Naruto explained.

"Your summons?" Picard repeated as he remembered his latest experience with Naruto's summons.

* * *

 **Flashback.**

"Let's go, Gamakichi!" Naruto shouted.

"You got it, boss!" The three story tall toad shouted as he leapt high into the air, breaking Naruto, Sakura, and Picard out of prison. The Ico guards joked that they could hear Picard screaming the entire time.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" He cried.

* * *

 **Flash forward.**

"Did he just say... Demon fox...?" Turrell asked in shock.

 **"At your service."** Kurama bowed mockingly, but Turrell didn't seem to pick up on that.

Turrell was more than familiar with the tailed beasts of Element and here he was, looking at one on board a Federation ship.

"A-and... What can you do for us...?"

 **"Well first things first. I am not a summons to Kit here. He is my jinchuriki, a living vessel used to seal me away. In exchange he gets increased stamina and healing factor."** Kurama said bluntly.

Turrell was taken aback. "Jinchuriki...? They still do that...?"

 **"Not anymore. Kit here convinced the Kages of our world that me and my fellow Tailed Beasts were more than chakra monsters to be used as weapons. So now there is only me and that whiny ox who are sealed inside our respective idiots."**

"Hey!"

 **"So long story short, we are now partners and I can exist outside of Kit's seal for as long as we both desire. Which means that I am my own entity and can pick up the pink vixen's slack."** Kurama said as he pointed at Sakura who was busy spitting out what was left of her latest hurl.

"Interesting proposal. Yet how do we know that you are qualified to protect Captain Picard?" Admiral Paris inquired.

 **"I am open to tests if you need."** Kurama offered.

"I propose one on one combat with your head of security, Picard. He would be more qualified than I to determine the fox's effectiveness as a bodyguard." Paris suggested.

"Unfortunately my chief of security is incapacitated with the flu." Picard informed.

"Wait, Klingon's can get the flu?" Sakura asked.

"Evidentially. Klingons are not that different to humans, hence why Klingons and Humans can... Procreate and bear children with one another." Picard explained.

"Moving right along, what other methods are there to determining if this demon is capable of protecting our most prestigious Star Fleet Captain?" Turrell asked.

"A mission?" Riker suggested.

Paris nodded. "A very good suggestion, Commander."

"That's good, because I have a mission for the Enterprise." Turrell said before looking at his pad. "There is a Klingon outpost that has fallen under siege by the Tolmeekians. I'm sending the Enterprise and her crew to provide relief efforts and fight off any Tolmeekian soldiers that might remain."

"Sir, wouldn't this mission be more suited to a warship. We are a diplomatic exploration vessel." Picard reminded him.

"Yes, however the Enterprise is one of the most well-armed ships in the fleet and you're the closest one. I will be dispatching the Dauntless and Intrepid for aid as well." Turrell said.

"The Enterprise isn't just a cruise ship, Picard." Paris reminded. "It is also a warship in terms of firepower and capability."

"Like other Galaxy Class ships, the Enterprise is armed with 11 phaser banks and two torpedo tubes with a compliment of 500 torpedoes. Unlike other Galaxy Class ships though, the enterprise has stronger hull plating and has a more efficient warp core, thanks to your chief engineer." Turrell added.

"Yes of course, I'll reset our course at best speed." Picard yielded.

"Very good." Turrell said before turning back to Kurama. "This is to test your capabilities and your loyalty. You will do what Picard and what Lt Uzumaki tells you. As of right now, I'm giving you a field commission of Petty Officer. It's an enlisted rank and you must obey any order given to you by an officer, including an Ensign."

 **"Yes, sir."** Kurama said as he saluted with one of his tails.

"With that, this hearing is dismissed." Turrell said. The screen immediately went blank.

"Well... That went better than I thought." Naruto mused.

"We gotta start kissing some major ass if we wanna stay here." Sakura said.

"And not just each other's during our alone time." Naruto said.

"Ha ha... Very funny." Sakura deadpanned.

 **"Weak ass sex joke aside..."**

"Once moment." Crusher said. "Sakura, as of right now, you are on maternity leave." She ordered.

"From body guarding or from medical practice as well?"

"Everything." Crusher said firmly. "If you can't perform your bodyguard duty, then you can't perform your medical duties either."

"What? But you said I could continue performing my duties until I was 7 months along." Sakura argued.

"I did, but your symptoms are a lot stronger than any normal pregnancy."

"Can I at least come back after my morning sickness ceases?"

"We'll talk about it. I'm going to want to check you over to see how you are feeling at that time. Your mood swings are also a lot more prominent than normal."

 **"Oh man, that reminds me of the red vixen's pregnancy. Always flipping out and punching her mate. Don't know how the Fourth Hokage put up with it."** Kurama reminisced.

"The same way I do, I imagine." Naruto said.

"I'm sorry, the who?" Crusher asked.

"My parents. Mr. Fluffles over here was sealed inside my mother when she was pregnant with me." Naruto said as he pointed at Kurama.

"I see, and I assume that I don't want to know why he is now sealed inside you."

"A story for another time." Naruto said.

 **"Spoiler warning, it ends with me stabbing both his parents in the chest."**

Crusher gasped. "Why... Why would you do such a terrible thing...?"

"He was under the control of another. He had no love for humans back then, but Naruto has changed him for the better." Sakura explained.

 **"Then, being here where you humans show so much compassion for other species, even if they are your enemies."**

"That's...wow..." Crusher said.

"So we probably need to get you fitted for a uniform." She said trying to change the conversation.

 **"What? Uniform?"**

"If you're going to be a part of this crew, you need to abide by the grooming standards." Crusher stated.

Crusher looked up and down at Kurama's body. "Been awhile since we've had a crew member that walked on all fours..."

She walked over to the nearest terminal. "Computer, craft a uniform for newly registered Petty Officer Kurama." Crusher spoke aloud.

The computer beeped in acknowledgement and a simple yellow vest with a small bar on the collar appeared with a combadge on the front.

"Oh my god. Kurama, that looks adorable!" Sakura declares.

 **"Yea you would think that..."** Kurama grumbled.

"Yes I would, now try it on!" Sakura insisted.

 **"Fine..."**

Kurama grabbed the vest out of the replicator with his front paw and walked into the privacy of his room on his hind legs.

 _ **'Kit...how do I put on a vest?'**_

 _'Need a hand in there fuzzball?'_

 _ **'No, just tell me how to do it!'**_

Naruto then sent Kurama a mental image of himself putting on a flak vest.

 _ **'Oh right, thanks.'**_ Kurama thought as he put on the vest.

Meanwhile Naruto and the two women stood out in the living room, waiting.

"So... what can we expect from these Tora-whoits?"

"Tolmeekians. Their ships are not very strong, but they are fierce on the battlefield. They are comparable to... what was his name... that snake ninja you told me about, what was his name?"

"Orochimaru? In what way? Are you telling us that they are snake-men?" Naruto asked.

"That's his name. Yea, they're humanoid snakes that are very strong."

"Oh that's just great... Hey whatever happened to that guy? He helped us beat the 10 Tails and then kinda vanished." Naruto thought aloud.

"I don't know Naruto. Personally if I never see that creep again it'll be too soon." Sakura shuttered.

"At any rate, this is where you and Kurama come in, Naruto." Crusher said.

"They have the standard phaser rifles or will we have to deal with bladed weapons like the Klingons and their retarded sword?" Naruto asked.

"A combination. Their bladed weapons act as phasers as well."

Sakura gulped. "So... say if someone gets impaled by one of these weapons... they can then use its phasers from the inside?"

Crusher nodded grimly.

"Interesting. What about their armor?" Naruto asked.

"They have very thick scales as armor."

"So naturally plating. I assume that they are quicker than they are strong. Since they are snake like."

"On the contrary, they are both really fast and very strong."

"How fast and strong compared to your average human?"

"They are up there with you ninja."

Crusher was surprised when Naruto actually smirked upon hearing that factoid.

"You can't tell me you're happy about that." Crusher said with shock in her tone.

"On the contrary, I'm getting excited. These guys sound like they'd be a good fight." Naruto slammed his fist into his palm.

"You can fight them. Snakes creep me out." Sakura shuddered.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I beat the crap outta all of them so you don't have to. Believe it." Naruto smiled.

Sakura smiled back lovingly. "And this is one of the many reasons I love you..."

Naruto stepped forward to lovingly stroke Sakura's belly. "And I love you..."

 **"Sage of Six Paths, get a room you two..."** Kurama groaned as he stepped out of his room.

Sakura looked over to see Kurama in his Starfleet vest. "Aawwww... you look so adorable." Sakura gushed.

Kurama looked away in embarrassment. **"Shaddup...I'm supposed to be the feared 9 tailed demon fox. One whip of my tail was said to bring about typhoons and stuff..."** Kurama whined.

"Hard to imagine that when you look as cute as a button." Crusher gushed.

Naruto meanwhile could not stop laughing at the whole scenario. He tried to keep himself quiet but it just proved more and more fruitless.

 **"Quiet, ass."** Kurama growled.

"Sorry, sorry..." Naruto said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "But it really does look good on you buddy. Seriously.

 **"I bet it... does..."** Kurama paused when he walked in front of a mirror and was able to see himself.

 **"Huh...well of course I would look pretty sharp."** Kurama smirked.

"See? I told you." Sakura said happily.

Kurama began checking himself out in the mirror, looking at his vest from every angle that he could.

 **"You know Kit, there are many differences between us, but I think that now there is one thing we can agree on. I make this work."**

"You do actually." Naruto said.

"Damn right, so when so we get to face those Tora-whatsits?"

"Tolmeekians." The Humans all corrected.

That was when Picardy got on the ships coms. "All hands, this is the captain. We are changing course to the Devron system to aid a fallen Klingon outpost. Our ETA will be 2 days, so I need everyone at their best by that time. Picard out."

 **"Gotta love these convenient timings."** Kurama mused.

"Yup, so I'm thinking that we get in the holodeck and get you back in fighting shape." Naruto said.

 **"What do you mean? You saying I'm out of shape, dickhead?!"**

"Well when is the last time you've gotten into an actual fight?" Naruto pointed out.

 **"... Good point..."**

"Right, so let's go. Crusher, you care to join us?" Naruto asked as he went into his room to pick up his kunai pouch.

"No thanks. I need to return to the sickbay."

"Suit yourself. Sakura-chan, you feeling up to refereeing our spar?" Naruto asked as he came out of his room all suited up for combat.

"If I can stop puking." Sakura sighed.

"Yea, I think you should stay and rest a while." Crusher advised.

"Well I don't want to leave you here all by yourself..." Naruto said.

"God you're such a worry wart. What are you going to do when you and Kurama are on the mission?"

"I don't know. Keep worrying about you?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Just leave a shadow clone, baka..."

"Right right." Naruto obliged as his doppelganger came into existence.

"We'll be back for lunch, babe." Naruto said as he gave Sakura a quick peck on the lips. "You call if you need ANYTHING. And you..." Naruto pointed at his clone. "Cater to her every whim."

"Yes, boss. Don't have to tell me twice."

Sakura sighed. "Did you always worry about me this much?"

"Well I...uh..." Naruto stammered.

 **"Come on, we're burning daylight."** Kurama said as he yanked Naruto out the door with his tail. Leaving Sakura and Crusher alone with the Naruto clone.

"Ugh, your original can be so clingy at times." Sakura huffed at the clone as she sat down on the couch.

"You know, it might not be any of my business, but I think I know why Naruto is being so protective of you." Crusher spoke up.

"Hey, if you got ideas then by all means, share." Sakura said.

"Well you said that Naruto has always been an orphan, right?"

"Yea... what's your..." Sakura stopped mid-sentence when she realized what Crusher was talking about. "Oh my god... He has now what he never had before and he's afraid to lose it... oh... Naruto..."

"Yeah, he's probably fulfilling his deepest desire to have a family. A blood related family that looks like him. And he can only fulfill that dream with you..." Crusher said as she looked down at Sakura's belly where a tiny little life was taking shape. "If I had to guess, I'd say you having his child is a more important dream of his than even being Hokage. You are giving him the family he has always wanted."

"It's true..." the clone said solemnly.

Sakura looked at the clone and pulled him in for a warm hug. "I'm sorry... I never realized..."

"Don't apologize. Boss just isn't good with words." The clone said.

"That's why he has me..." Sakura said fondly.

"And he is so very grateful for that. Every day he feels so lucky that he gets to love and be loved back by his best friend." The clone said as he held Sakura tightly. For a moment she forgot that she was talking to a jutsu and was instead talking to the real thing.

"I love you... so much... don't you ever forget that..."

* * *

The days passed quickly until morning came for the crew of the Enterprise. Radio chatter had been filling the communications room with urgent calls for reinforcements. The officers could only reassure them time and again that help was on the way.

The morning of, Naruto and Kurama were called into the shuttle port along with a team of security officers, hand selected by Worf himself.

"Atten-SHUN!" The senior officer shouted as Worf stepped onto the bridge.

"Thank you, Ensign." Worf said.

"As most of you know, we're going up against a formidable foe. The Tolmeekians are ruthless warriors who were once respected by the Klingons. However, something changed recently in them to where they see any life other than their own kind as inferior."

"They are fast, incredibly strong and very durable. In Human terms, they can... take a licking and keep on ticking. Which is why all of you must use extreme caution."

The officers all nodded in understanding. One green rookie gulped.

"The plan, which has been worked out between myself and Lieutenant Uzumaki, is twofold..." Worf pulled out a tiny device which produced a holographic projection of a circular base with high walls surrounding a series of tiny buildings and one larger four story structure.

"This is the forward most Klingon base currently under seige. Reports are that the Tolmeekians are attempting a spear formation to deliver the crushing blow to the Klingons that have already been fighting for days without rest..."

The hologram created a large red cluster headed towards the base and several red dots inside the fort.

"Your mission is to land inside the fort and help the garrison neutralize the enemy combatants before the enemy reinforcements can arrive. Then phase 2 of the plan will commense with shock and awe."

"Shock and awe?" One of the rookies asked.

"We take them by surprise." Naruto clarified.

"Yes, we have a new officer joining us on this mission. He will be the surprise." Worf said as Kurama took it as his cue to step forward.

"May I introduce Kurama of the Leaf. Also known on his home planet as the Nine Tailed Demon Fox."

The men all stared in awe of the blood orange fox with nine beautiful tails, blood red eyes, and hands for front paws. He stood as tall as a horse and looked ready to kill any of them at a moment's notice. Upon his chest he was adorned with a yellow vest signifying his rank as a security officer.

 **"Sup."** Kurama said nonchalantly.

"I will have Mr. Uzumaki do the introduction." Worf said, handing the floor over to Naruto.

"Alright everyone, a few things to know about my buddy Kurama here. He is an ancient being made of chakra. If you don't know what chakra is, think of it as magical energy because I am tired of explaining it. He is sentient, he can talk, and he has a name. You will address him as Petty Officer Kurama and you will treat him with the same respect you would give to me. After all, he was with me every time I saved this ship and its crew."

Naruto looked over the group to see any defiant glances.

"If anyone has a problem with working with him, speak up now."

All around Naruto, no one said a word.

"Good. Now on to phase 2 of our plan: shock and awe. Kurama here has several special abilities that we are going to take full advantage of. What you see now is not Kurama's true form. His actual size is that of a mountain. In his maximum form he can breathe fire and kick up hurricanes with the flick of his tails. He can launch energy attacks that can cripple a star fleet destroyer. He will provide the shock and awe that will completely obliterate the enemy reinforcements and hopefully deter them from any further assaults." Naruto declared in his ANBU Captain tone.

"Any questions?"

One crewman put his hand up. "That honestly sounds like a load of shit."

Naruto's and Kurama's eyes twitched.

"Well you will just have to trust us until we reach stage two of our plan." Naruto stated firmly.

 **"Unless you would like a demonstration?"** Kurama huffed out flames to show off.

The crewman shut up after that.

"That's what I thought. Now the Enterprise will be engaged with the Tolmeekians ships in the upper atmosphere so it will be unable to provide air support. The dropship will also retreat back to a safe distance after it drops us off. When we hit the ground we're on our own." Naruto continued.

"To further that, Captain Picard has confirmed that 5 Starfleet ships are coming to aid us." Worf added.

"What's the ETA for their arrival?" The senior Ensign asked.

"Three hours. Until then, we are on our own." Worf replied.

"We should be completed with our mission by then. We're gonna beat back those snake fuckers so hard that the only thing our reinforcements are gonna be able to do is watch us accept the Tolmeekians surrender. Sound good?!" Naruto shouted.

"YES SIR!" The strike team shouted in unison.

"Gear up! I want two packs for each man! One for close quarters breach and clear for phase 1 and then heavily artillery for the second phase! I want you to be able to drop your second pack when we touch down and pick it up later to hold the line!" Naruto ordered.

"YES SIR!"

The men all stood up as one and began raiding the armory for weapons and their respective gear. Admits all the chaos, Naruto pulled the senior Ensign aside.

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Scott Adams, sir."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Any relation to Sally Adams?"

Scott nodded. "Yes, sir. She's my niece."

"Huh, small ship..." Naruto mused.

"I'm a transfer from the USS Intrepid."

"Well small universe then. Anyway, I'm designating you as squad leader for Bravo."

"Yes, sir."

"Is there anyone you would recommend for Charlie's squad leader?"

"Ensign Joe Ballard. He is a bit high strung, but he's a great soldier."

"I'll take your word on it. I'm still new to this Star Fleet thing so I'm hoping that I can count on you more experienced soldiers to help guide me when needed. You read me?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm telling you this because I believe in being upfront with the men under my command. No one man is better than a well-trained squadron."

"I agree sir. Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead." Naruto nodded.

"Sir. Sally means the world to me. I can't have kids of my own, so I think of her as my own daughter. I am gladly willing to lay down my life for the Federation at any time. But at the same time... Sally would be devastated if she found out I won't be coming back. So for her sake, please make sure I make it home alive..."

That actually made Naruto laugh whole heartedly. The men actually looked over to see what had possessed their platoon leader.

"Sir, what is so funny?" Scott asked.

"Hahaha...whew...you know she's a special little girl. My girlfriend Sakura and I actually befriended her a month back. I don't mean to brag but I'd say she wouldn't want me or any other man here to not come back alive."

"R-really...?"

"She hasn't mentioned us? I'm hurt. And even after Kurama here let her ride him like a horsey." Naruto fake pouted as he gestured over at Kurama.

"I honestly don't know if she said anything about you or not. I didn't see her today."

"When did you come aboard this ship?"

"A week ago."

"And this Ensign Ballard, did he transfer with you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes he did."

"Hmmm..." _'Probably should have chosen a veteran from the Enterprise crew.'_ "Well Scott, I have a two-month pregnant girlfriend waiting for me to come back home, and no doubt there are others who would love to making it out of this mission in one piece if they had the choice. So I'll guarantee no one's safety, only that I will do everything in my power to see the mission's success and that all my men make it home safe. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Scott replied.

"Good. Now go inform Ensign Ballard and then go lead your men well. Do that, and it'll be up to no one but fate on who comes back." Naruto stated.

"Aye sir." Scott replied and walked away to inform his colleague.

Kurama then walked up to Naruto's side to sit next to him. "So how'd I do?"

 **"Not bad, honestly."**

"You sure? First time in over two months that I've had to give a pre-mission pep speech. Felt rusty."

 **"It's like... how do you humans say it?... Riding a bike?"**

"Yeah... Holy crap, when us the last time that I have ever rode a bike?" Naruto exclaimed.

Kurama sweat dropped.

"Never mind, focus time." Naruto quickly said as he started walking towards the drop ship. "But when we get back we need to find a bicycle." He said as he ducked down and took a seat. Kurama curled up at Naruto's feet.

"Picard to Strike Team. 10 minutes to launch."

"Acknowledged." Naruto responded.

"Come on, ladies! Get the lead out!" Naruto called to the officers still packing up.

The crew rushed through their packing and piled onto the shuttles one by one. That was when the red alert klaxon sounded and the ship rocked from a direct hit.

The drop ship was also rocked and Kurama's head hit the wall of the shuttle interior.

 **"OW! Son of a..."** Kurama cried.

"Strike team, this the captain. Change of plans. The Tolmeekians have a large fleet with several captured Klingon ships. Your job now is to standby and await further instructions."

"Bitch!" Naruto shouted in frustration. He then poked his head out of the shuttle. "Everyone brass check your weapons! I want those weapons so shiny that the enemy would be honored to die by such pretty weapons!"

* * *

On the bridge, things were getting intense.

"Lock photons and fire!" Riker ordered.

Worf did as he was told. The Enterprise fired a large volley of torpedoes at a winged Klingon ship known as a Bird of Prey.

They hit their mark and destroyed the left wing off the enemy ship.

"Bird of Prey severally damaged. They are adrift, sir." Worf informed. "ACHOO!"

"Bless you, Lieutenant." Picard said.

"Thank you, sir..." Worf sniffed.

The ship shook as they took another hit.

"Klingon Negh'Var off the port bow." Worf informed.

"Captain! Incoming transmission from the port bay!" Riker shouted.

"On screen." Picard ordered.

The bridge screen flickered and revealed Naruto's face. "Captain, what is the status on getting our mission un-scrubed?"

"Unknown at this time." Picard said as the ship took another hit. "Return fire!"

The bottom phaser array charged up and focused a beam to a single point and fired a golden beam at the Tolmeekian ship.

"Minimal damage to their shields." Worf informed.

"Sir, I request that my shuttle be allowed to depart now despite the danger." Naruto said.

"Request denied. There are too many enemy ships in the area."

"Sir, incoming... ACHOO!... Incoming federation ship. It's the Prometheus." Worf informed.

The ship in question dropped out of warp. It was a wedged shape ship with 4 engines. The ship immediately separated into 3 ships and started firing on the enemy ships.

"Sir, with all due respect, we are a tiny vessel. I doubt the enemy will take notice of us." Naruto said.

Picard thought it over until he realized that there was no arguing around the Lieutenant. "Granted."

"Alright!" Naruto shouted. "Mount up boys!" The officers all cheered and crawled into the shuttles.

"Lieutenant!" The shuttle pilot called.

"What is it?" Naruto replied.

"Sir, at our distance from the planet's surface, we won't have enough fuel for the return trip! I won't be able to retreat from the LZ!" The pilot said in fear.

"I thought these things bad fusion generators and didn't use fuel?" Naruto asked.

"Not when the fusion generators are diverted to strengthening the shields. It's the only way we can take a direct hit from a plasma torpedo! Which is extremely likely considering that we are flying into the middle of a hot fly zone! The fuel is the emergency backup power! But like I said, we only have enough to get to the fort!"

"Is that so?" Naruto said as he handed a phaser rifle to the jumpy pilot. "Then I guess you'll be helping us retake the fort. Welcome to Alpha team, A5!" Naruto patted the pilot on the shoulder before retreating back to his seat to strap in.

"Sir! I don't know how to fire one of these things!" The pilot shouted back.

"Neither do I! So far as I can tell you just point it and pull the trigger!" Naruto laughed.

The rest of them officers all chuckled at the pilot's expense.

The pilot gulped. "O-okay then... Let's go..."

The pilot turned over the shuttle as the port bay doors began to open. The officers all hastily buckled their safety belts.

"Port bay, this is Sparrow 1. Requesting permission to depart." The pilot said into his comms.

"Permission granted. Safe travels." Picard replied.

With that, the pilot hit the accelerator and the shuttle shot out in the vast fields of outer space, where the massive ship to ship battle was already well underway.

"I will never get used to seeing this..." Naruto said in awe.

"You never do." Scott said.

"It's not that. I came from a world where the highest level of technology we have is wireless short wave radios."

That made everyone in the passenger seating look over in wonder.

"Seriously? I heard you Elementians were great warriors, but I never expected you to be so far behind the times." One Ensign spoke up.

"We don't rely heavily on technology. But I heard something about the Leaf R&D looking into warp drive. But that's probably some years away." Naruto said offhandedly.

The same Ensign raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "From short wave radio to warp drive? I think you're missing a few steps there."

"Maybe... but let's drive our focus to the task at hand."

"Won't you please?!" Asked the pilot as he veered right to avoid an incoming plasma torpedo, just narrowly avoiding it.

The shuttle duck and weaved through the chaotic exchange of plasma bolts being launched from both sides. All around them silent explosions went off one after another. Pilot Ethan Sol could only hear the rattling of his ship and the warning alarms constantly going off. It was nerve racking as hell.

 **CRASH!**

The shuttle violently jerked down so hard the crew could feel it in their teeth.

"PLASMA TORPEDO HIT US!" Ethan shouted back as he frantically hit several switches above his head.

"I'm turning off the gravity to save power! One more hit like that and our shields are gone!" He called.

As soon as he finished saying that Naruto and the rest of the crew felt their stomachs rise up as their bodies entered permanent free fall.

"Haha, it tickles!" Naruto cried.

 **"Whoa whoa whoa!"** Kurama shouted as he frantically tried to doggy paddle in midair.

"This is weird!" Naruto laughed.

 **"I don't like it!"** Kurama cried.

"Everyone settle down! We're about to enter the atmosphere!" The pilot shouted.

"Here Kurama, get in my jacket!" Naruto shouted as he unzipped his uniform.

 **"Are you NUTS?!"**

"Are you?! I don't see anywhere else for you to sit!"

 **"Fine!"** Kurama exclaimed as he shrunk down to puppy dog size, allowing for Naruto to grab him and stuff the fox down his shirt.

 **"This is a onetime deal, Kit!"**

"Aww, but you look so cute. Like Akamaru used to when Kiba carried him around." Naruto said. He petted Kurama's head as their ship shook.

 **"I swear to god... I'm gonna kill you one day..."**

"We're linked. You'd be killing yourself." Naruto reminded.

Kurama just growled in irritation. Muttering about how it would be worth it.

"Love you too." Naruto laughed, until Kurama bit Naruto's hand as he petted him. "Ouch!"

 _'These are the guys chosen to lead us?'_ Several officers thought.

The shuttle continued to rattle as it broke through the planet's atmosphere and rapidly descended through the clouds. Pilot Sol looked down and saw the flashes of laser fire trading back and forth inside the walls of the fort.

* * *

Meanwhile back on the Enterprise, Sakura was doing her best to keep her mind at ease as the ship rocked and shook violently with each hit from the enemy.

"Big Sis...do you think Big Bro Naruto will be okay...?" Sally tentatively asked.

"I hope so, Sally..." Sakura said with concern.

Sally rested her head on Sakura's lap as her Big Sis lovingly stroked Sally's hair.

"He said he was the strongest person in his whole village. Is that true?" Sally looked up at Sakura with her blue and green eyes.

"It is very true. He's possibly the strongest in our world."

"He is...?" Sally said in awe.

Sakura looked at Sally's curious gaze and smiled. "I have little doubt in my mind."

"Tell me about it..." Sally insisted as she snuggled closer to Sakura's belly.

"Of course." Sakura obliged as they felt the vibration of another torpedo hit the ship.

"Hmmm... Many I can tell you about the time Naruto saved me from a gigantic sand golem...?" Sakura thought aloud to peak Sally's curiosity.

"Sand golem? What's that?"

"Well maybe sand golem is the wrong word. Do you know what a Tanuki is?"

"It means racoon, right?"

"It does. It's a raccoon dog demon."

"A demon...?" Sally gasped in fear.

"Yes. Only this Tanuki was made of sand and was as tall as a mountain." Sakura said as she raised up her hands to act like a big and scary monster.

Sally's eyes went wide.

"You see, this Sand Tanuki was similar to Kurama. He was sealed inside another boy like Kurama is with Naruto." Sakura said as she held a finger to her lips to subtly remind Sally that it was a secret.

Sally nodded and waited for Sakura to continue.

"This boy was a lot like Naruto when he was younger. Alone and shunned by others, only this boy had been alone for a lot longer. So he was deranged. Anyway, our teammate Sasuke wanted to fight him but the boy named Gaara was too strong for our teammate." Sakura paused in case Sally had any questions.

"So what did you both do?" Sally asked. The ship then jostled from another hit.

"Well of course I stepped in to save Sasuke, but unfortunately I wasn't nearly as strong as I am now so Gaara captured me and held me hostage. He was going to slowly crush me with his sand..."

"Oh no!"

"Yes. I lost consciousness after that. Sasuke was too weak to fight back, our sensei was nowhere to be found, but who should save me..." Sakura smiled.

"Y-you mean... big bro Naruto did?"

"He did." Sakura's face lit up at the memory. "He saw me being held hostage and then summoned up his strength and his courage to desperately fight for me..." Sakura said as Sally's face grew brighter with awe.

"He summoned thousands of clones and the great Toad Chief Gamabunta to fight the Sand Demon. We were both only 12 back then, such feats were considered impossible for Genin. Heck, even Gaara was thought to be undefeatable even by adults at the time. They all were scared of Gaara back in his own Village of the Sand. Adults wouldn't go near him. But to save me and our village, Naruto ran headlong to face the Sand Demon..."

"Wow..." Sally breathed out.

"Yeah, and like every time that the odds were stacked against him. Naruto came out on top. Because nobody defies the odds like Naruto." Sakura stated firmly.

"Then he will come back." Sally beamed.

"He will, but I'm not done with the story just yet." Sakura teased.

"So what happened next?" Sally asked eagerly.

"Well not only did Naruto defeat the gigantic Sand Tanuki, he also changed the mind of its jinchuriki, that would be Gaara. For after Naruto struck the final blow against Gaara, the both of them collapsed in a field, completely exhausted. Yet Naruto still believed that my life was in danger, so he crawled his way over towards Gaara. I have no idea how, but he was going to keep fighting Gaara until I was safe, even when he couldn't even lift his own arms and legs."

"Wow! You must have gone out with big bro after that!" Sally beamed.

Sakura sighed. "Not exactly. But what I wanted to say was how Naruto saved Gaara that day."

Sally nodded so Sakura could continue.

"You see Gaara had always believed that he could only trust himself and therefore he would only fight for himself. Until he saw Naruto who was like him in so many ways. Yet Naruto fought for his teammates, for those he loved, they were the source of his strength and allowed him to defeat Gaara and so many others. This changed Gaara and saved him from the dark pit of loneliness. Do you know what Gaara is now because of Naruto? He is the Kazekage, his village's leader, exactly what Naruto will be one day." Sakura said fondly.

"Wow..." Sally said in awe.

"Yeah... That's the thing about Naruto. He'll always achieve the impossible, especially when his loved ones are on the line, and he will always be magnanimous in victory." Sakura smiled.

"Uh... mag... what's that?"

"It means someone with a great soul. Someone with a big heart that is brave and forgiving of others. They don't hold resentment, even to their enemies. Naruto cried for Gaara's sake. And now the Leaf and the Sand are the closest of allies."

"Awesome..."

"Yeah, he is..." Sakura said fondly.

* * *

Back with the blond hero, the shuttle had just touched down.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" Naruto ordered as Kurama leapt out of his jacket and grew to the size of horse as he ran out towards the battlefield. The rest of the men tore off their seat belts and booked it to the nearest bombed out building occupied by the Klingon forces.

Kurama galloped ahead of everyone and was immediately shot near the feet by a Klingon sniper.

 **"Woah! Easy! We're with Starfleet!"** Kurama exclaimed.

The Klingon spotter double checked the yellow vest on the fox's chest and indeed saw the Star fleet insignia.

"Hold your fire, soldier. He's telling the truth." The commander forcibly lowered his sniper's weapon.

The rest of the ground squad arrived as Kurama was greeted by the Klingon commander.

"My apologies strange one. Please come inside."

 **"Very good. Bout time I was treated with the respect I deserve."** Kurama scoffed, to which Naruto just rolled his eyes.

The squad of 12 plus the pilot where led into the ruins of the main building were the Klingons still held control of the compound. All around them they could hear the echoing sounds of battle play out as the remaining Klingon forces held a desperate last stand against pockets of Tolmeekians infantry.

There in the center of room, reading over a map by the light shining through a hole in the wall was the Klingon battalion commander.

The Klingon commander looked over at the newcomers and a wash of relief overcame him.

"Never have I been glad to see Starfleet. I am Brigadier Kang." The commander introduced.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki. We're here to help you retake your fort, sir." Naruto offered his hand.

Kang extended his hand out and shook Naruto's.

"I have heard a great deal about you, Elementian. I heard about how you single handedly captured a Romulan Warbird... That is no easy feat, even by Klingon standards."

"Well I had a little help." Naruto admitted.

"Of course..." Kang said, not convinced of Naruto's claim. "Anyway, we are down to our last group of warriors. They cannot hold the line any longer and they need help."

"That's what we are here for. I've got my squad ready to split up into three teams. Just tell us where to go and we'll get it done." Naruto stated.

Kang turned around and brought up a map of the area. "The right flank is about to fall. I need you to send a team out to retrieve my men and bring them back."

"Done. Bravo team, get on it." Naruto ordered.

"Now the left flank is about to fall. I have two men there now and they have been reduced to close quarters combat." Kang informed.

"Charlie. Get over there and relieve those men. Take your phase 2 packs." Naruto said.

"Aye sir." Ensign Ballard replied.

"Anything else?" Naruto asked.

"We just need help in clearing out the rooms in this building. A division of those snake bastards broke through and took shelter right under our noses." Kang said.

"I'll take care of that." Naruto said before creating about 50 clones.

Kang looked surprise at the small clone army that had instantly appeared on his war room.

"Alpha, drop your phase 2 packs and move out." Naruto ordered.

"Aye, sir." Replied his crew.

The men plus Kurama all jogged down the hallways deep into the structure.

* * *

Back on the Enterprise, things were getting desperate. While the Prometheus handled the more powerful Klingon ships, the mighty Galaxy Class flagship was surrounded by Tolmeekian ships and was being pummeled.

"Shields down! There is thermal damage to the hull!" Worf exclaimed.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir!" The helmsman shouted.

"We can't keep this up much longer." Riker said.

"I'm aware of that, number one. Options." Picard said.

"Separate the ship?" Worf suggested.

"That would leave the saucer more vulnerable, due to its limited weapons." Data informed.

"Use the shuttles as fighter?" Riker suggested.

"No. They could only take a single hit before being destroyed." Picard said firmly.

"So, we're helpless until additional ships arrive." Worf said grimly.

"What about the warp core?" Riker said.

"What about it?" Picard asked.

"We dump the core and detonate it with a photon in the middle of their ships. It should take out most of them." Riker explained.

"Interesting... Mr. Data, what is your analysis?"

"It has a high probability of success, if timed properly." Data informed.

"Mr. Worf. Can you fire a torpedo at the right time?" Picard asked.

"Yes sir." Worf said.

"Make it so. Helm, move us away from the enemy ships. Picard to LaForge."

"LaForge here."

"On my mark, eject the warp core."

"Sir?" Geordi asked in confusion.

"Just do it!"

"Aye, sir." Geordi replied.

The massive ship maneuvered away from the Tolmeekian ships so they were all behind them. Picard waited until they were a safe distance away.

"Now LaForge!" Picard ordered.

Geordi pressed several icons on the console and the warp core left the ship. It sailed away from the Enterprise until it was almost on top of the enemy ships.

"Fire..." Riker ordered.

A single photon torpedo shot from the rear launcher and hit its mark. The core exploded with a devastating Shock wave, taking many ships with it.

"We got them!" Worf exclaimed.

"Another Picard maneuver?" Riker smirked.

"More like the Enterprise maneuver." Picard smirked.

"Sir, they still have 6 ships left." Worf informed.

"Easy enough for us now." Riker said.

Picard nodded. "Engage and fire at will."

The officers all nodded, their brilliant maneuver filling them with confidence. Picard took a moment to radio his strike team on the ground.

"Enterprise to Strike Team Leader, do you copy?"

"..." Silence on the comms.

"Picard to Mr. Uzumaki. Respond."

The comms remained silent for nearly ten seconds before Picard heard a whoosh and a "...blurgh..." Picard could have sworn it sounded like a muffled cry, like someone choking on their own blood.

"This is Uzumaki, go ahead."

"Is everything alright down there?" Picard asked.

"Everything is peachy Captain. Was having a game of hide and seek with the snake men. They aren't very good at it." Naruto joked.

"Understood. Things are faring better up here, but we are fresh out of warp cores."

"Copy that. Phase 1 is going smoothly. I split my team into 3 squads. Charlie and Bravo are reinforcing the flanks on the main building while Alpha is rooting out the snakes that snuck inside. We are on schedule to begin Phase 2." Naruto reported.

"Understood. Keep us informed. Picard out."

"Will do, Uzumaki out." Naruto cued as the rest of his squad waited for him outside of a closed door. Kurama on the left side with two others on the left and Pilot Sol hanging right behind Kurama's tails where it was safe.

"Sir, sensors pick up a whole platoon inside this one room. This might be their HQ."

"Might be. Could it be a field hospital they've set up?" Naruto asked.

 **"Well, why don't we find out?"**

"Hold on." Naruto held his hand in front of Kurama.

"Negative, sensors show they all up and about."

"So are they just stupid to clump up like that without any guards outside their door?" Naruto asked.

"Seems it."

"Alright then." Naruto held up his hand which already held a massive Rasengan. "Breach and clear. Kurama goes in low and fast, A3 and 4 then follow up behind him while Pilot and I provide covering fire."

"Sounds good." A3 said as he checked his phaser rifle.

"Yes, sir." A4 said as she checked the settings on her rifle.

 **"Let's do it."** Kurama said as he cracked his neck.

Naruto slammed his Rasengan into the door exploding it outwards into the room and then retreated behind cover. Kurama took the cries of the Tolmeekians as his cue to sprint inside. He came in at the side and navigated the dust and debris by scent until he found his first target. His fangs ripped into the neck of the first snake man as the two other officers stormed inside and began firing into the confused enemy platoon. Their laser fire carved into the enemy ranks, soon accompanied by Naruto and Sol's phaser fire. Another Tolmeekian tried to raise up his phaser halberd but came at him with his slashing claws before he could do any damage. Two remaining snakes managed to return fire from behind cover but Kurama would have none of that. He sprinted low, beneath a normal human's waist height and attacked the two behind cover. His fangs sinking into one of their undefended necks and sprayed blood into his companion's eyes. Which gave Sol just the opening he needed to score his first headshot of the day.

"Nice shot, Flyboy!" A4 cheered.

Sol stood in horror of what he just did. He had never taken a life in his life and he felt sick to his stomach.

"Hey, you alright?" Naruto asked as he gave Sol a comforting hand on his shoulders. Naruto had seen this on many the faces of genin before. When they finally lost their innocence.

Sol just stood there, his face as white as a sheet and his hands trembling.

He looked at the phaser in his hand and dropped it like it was hot steel.

"I-I'm...a monster..."

 **"Says who?"** Kurama scoffed.

"I-I... I just... k-killed him..."

 **"And he would have killed you and your buddies if you hadn't. What of it?"**

"Kurama..." Naruto said calmly to get him to stop.

 **"No Kit. This guy joins the military and picks up a rifle to follow you and your comrades deep into enemy territory. Now he either pulls his weight or he wastes the ammo. Or did you think you could just spray laser fire everywhere and would get to say you contributed to the team without taking a life?"** Kurama stated.

 **"You humans make me sick. You've always got to have an existential crisis about everything. Making taking a life, even when it's to save your own, seem like such a big deal. As if going your whole life without killing makes you pure or better than everyone else."** Kurama walked over to one of the Tolmeekians who was left alive yet bleeding on the floor.

 **"You wanna know what it feels like to be a real killer? Use your own hands instead of a lucky shot."** Kurama said as he clamped his jaw around the snake man's neck and ripped his throat out.

"Kurama! That's enough!" Naruto ordered.

Kurama looked over at his companion with a hunk of meat in his mouth. He spits it at the feet of the pilot. **"You know I'm right..."**

The pilot then threw up.

"You are right, but that was going too far." Naruto scolded.

 **"Well I'm not about to trust my rear flank to a soldier that can't take a life. He can grow some balls or he can head back to the HQ."** Kurama stated.

"Well that's not your decision to make. I say if he can stay or not." Naruto said firmly.

"I'm actually with the fox on this one." A3 spoke up.

"Regardless. I'm going to take him aside to talk to him."

"No, no... that won't be necessary, sir..." Sol replied shakily.

"You sure you're okay?" Naruto asked.

"I'm fine. More importantly they're right. I've got no right to complain while everyone else is risking their lives like this." Sol shook off his nervousness and Naruto could see budding determination.

"Good to hear. Now let's move."

That's when they heard the static of the comms. "Lieutenant Uzumaki this is Bravo Team leader Adams, come in."

"Alpha team. What's your status?" Naruto asked.

"Sir, we are being overwhelmed back here on the left flank! Snakes regrouped over here! Charlie was all but wiped out by the time we got here! We need reinforcements!"

"Who is left of Team Charlie?" Naruto asked, afraid of the answer.

"One is dead. Two are critically wounded. And the last one is missing." Adams reported as explosion fired off some distance away.

"What of Ballard?"

"He's dead, sir."

"Fuck..." Naruto cursed.

"A3 and A4, go help them out. Sol, you join them." Naruto ordered.

"Yes sir!" 3 and 4 shouted. Sol kept quiet, but followed after them.

 **"What about us?"** Kurama asked.

"You and I are going to stick to the plan." Naruto said firmly before tapping his combadge. "Strike team to Enterprise."

"Go ahead." Picard responded.

"How far away is the Tolmeekians ground troops?"

"Mr. Worf?" Picard asked.

"They are about an hour away from your position." Worf informed.

"What is the status of the space battle?" Naruto asked.

"The last of the Tolmeekian ships have either been destroyed or fled. But the Enterprise is heavily damaged and we are too busy with repairs and-"

"Is Sakura-chan okay?!" Naruto exclaimed in worry.

"Yes, she's safe." Picard replied.

Naruto breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"I wish she was here. We have two critically wounded men and one KIA." Naruto reported.

Naruto heard a deep sigh from Picard. "Unfortunately, we can't even send anyone right now. We're adrift at the moment. No propulsion, no transporters and the shuttle bays were hit. We still have life support, but in all sense of the term, we're dead in the water."

"We'll make do. Can you keep me up to date on the Tolmeekians troop movement?"

"Will do, Naruto. Picard out."

Naruto turned off his comms and dropped down into his meditative stance. Kurama knew that Naruto was attempting to enter Sage mode and began to secure the area.

Inside Naruto's mind he felt all the fleeting life pulses of the world. The frantic actions of the men and aliens fighting outside the walls to the tiniest of organic lifeforms clinging to the last remaining handfuls of untampered earth.

"Strike team, this is Captain Harrison of the USS Prometheus."

Naruto opened his eyes to reveal his now rectangular pupils and answered the comms. "This is Strike Team Leader Lieutenant Uzumaki, go ahead."

"Uzumaki, section C of the Prometheus is on route to your location with a drop team of 50 troops. They will be at your disposal when they arrive." Captain Harrison informed.

"F-fifty hands?!" Naruto sputtered.

"Affirmative. The ground forces to your location are in the hundreds and you need every man available."

"It's just what I wanted for Christmas. How'd you know?" Naruto smiled.

"I checked the list twice and read your letter sent to me from Picard. Merry Christmas." Harrison joked back.

"All kidding aside, those men come with medics? I've got at least two men injured and god knows how many among the Klingons." Naruto stated.

"We are a war vessel so our medical staff is limited. However, the medical ships Phoenix and Pasteur are en route as we speak."

"Send what you can. Securing the fort takes priority over fighting off the Secondary Tolmeekian Battalion."

"Understood. The most I can spare for medical is 3 men so you'll have to make do."

"More than I was expecting. I'll have my team secure the LZ. When can I expect my present?"

"5 minutes. The Prometheus can separate into 3 ships, fully armed and capable of warp. the third section will be arriving soon so keep an eye out for her."

"Shit, come on Kurama!" Naruto shouted as he began double timing it back up to the HQ. Kurama looked confused and then followed after him.

"That's cutting it close. My men are already engaged in a firefight on the left flank." Naruto said into his comms.

"Understood, I'll have Section C do a strafing run against those troops."

"Negative! I've got a MIA buried in the rubble. I can dig him out, but I need time." Naruto said.

"Understood. You'll see the ship when it arrives, Harrison out."

"Thanks Captain. My boys will sure appreciate it. Uzumaki out." Naruto said as he ducked through a door.

 **"What was that about rubble and MIA?!"** Kurama called out as he ran behind Naruto.

"Captain Harrison was gonna have the C section of his ship strike the area, but there is one of our own missing there."

 **"How do you know? Senjutsu?"**

"Yup. I felt a faint life force slightly below where the rest of the troops are fighting. Ergo, someone injured and under rubble."

 **"Huh... Well, then let's go get him."**

"My thoughts exactly!" Naruto shouted as he leapt atop Kurama's back.

Kurama poured on the speed, quickly weaving around corners and debris in the hallways.

Meanwhile outside the HQ. Bravo, half of Alpha, and the weary Klingon forces were desperately holding back an all-out assault from the Tolmeekians from atop a two story pile of rubble.

"I don't think we can keep this up much longer." A4 said.

"Just keep shooting!" A3 shouted.

It was in that moment that more of the Tolmeekians started reinforcing their numbers. Now the squads were completely overwhelmed.

"Shit..." A3 cursed. "We need to fall back."

"Belay that!" Ensign Adams ordered. "We need to hold until Lieutenant Uzumaki arrives!" Adams then shot two snake men in the chest before ducking underneath a hail of phaser fire.

"Yes sir!" A4 replied.

That was when they heard something they didn't expect.

"RASENSHURIKIN!" Yelled a voice behind them as a flying blue orb with spinning blades flew past them and sliced the offending Tolmeekians to shreds.

The officers all took a moment to look back and gaze upon the hero of the Enterprise, their leader Naruto Uzumaki.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, unleashing a stampede of 500 clones against the remaining Tolmeekian forces. The phaser fire began to concentrate away from the officers and towards the clones, giving Naruto's men some time to breathe.

"Man, you're a sight for sore eyes." Scott said.

"Good to see you too. I hope you all have been good this year!" Naruto called out for all to hear.

"Good as ever, but these guys are jealous." Scott said

"Well they are gonna be even more jealous when Santa the red clad ninja flies in and delivers us 50 men worth of reinforcements directly from the USS Prometheus!" Naruto said.

"Are you serious?! That's great news!" Adams said.

 **"Speaking of which..."** Kurama said as he pointed to the ship above them.

The men and the Klingons all cheered at the sight of the large Starfleet dropship.

"Bravo team, go secure the LZ and greet our reinforcements. Alpha, reinforce the defenses here to get ready for their next assault wave." Naruto ordered as he made his way to a pile of rubble halfway down the hill.

The bottom section of the Prometheus outstretched its landing struts and touched down, the ventral phaser array firing at the Tolmeekian troops that tried to get close.

A ramp outstretched from the front and an entire platoon of troops marched out.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki? The 31st- OOMPHF!" The military officer tried to salute but was pushed aside when Naruto ran past him to get to this specific pile of rubble.

"Don't just stand there! There is one of my men down here!" Naruto called out. "Secure the area!" Naruto shouted as he made several more Shadow Clones to help him left one of the rocks.

"Yes sir!" The troops responded and broke formation to help secure the area.

Naruto's clones meanwhile frantically began digging into the rubble throwing head sized boulders away with reckless abandon.

 _'He's down here somewhere. I can feel it.'_

"Incoming!" One of the reinforcements shouted as a new wave of Tolmeekians broke through the line of Shadow Clones.

 _'Damn it, not now!'_ Naruto thought as he felt the phaser fire impacting on the massive boulder he was lifting up.

"Return fire!" The platoon commander ordered.

The men fired on the approaching line and the battle began anew.

Naruto meanwhile was feeling the laser bolts growing closer with each passing second. "Come on, come on..." Naruto grunted as his clones continued to dig under fire. One of the clones lifted up a secondary boulder and saw the unconscious head of an Enterprise crew man.

"Boss, I found him!" He yelled.

"Get him out fast and retreat!"

"On it!" The clone yelled just before an explosion went off to the side, ripping through all of Naruto's clones and peppering his right side with shrapnel.

"Fuck!" Naruto buckled under the injury but kept his feet grounded and his hold on the boulder steady.

Naruto opened his left eye (something felt wrong with his right one) and saw that all of his Shadow Clones were destroyed.

"Shit, now what?!" He shouted. That's when he heard someone sliding down the rubble behind him. At first Naruto thought that it was Kurama, but instead it was...

"Pilot?" Naruto said as the young Sol rushed past him and dived into the hole Naruto's clones had made.

"I got him!" Sol shouted from down in the hole.

"Can you carry him?!" Naruto yelled.

"Yes sir!" Sol replied.

"Then grab him and haul ass!"

"Already ahead of you!" Sol replied as he climbed out of the hole with the unconscious man and ran as fast as he could.

"Covering fire!" A4 shouted as she poured on the phaser fire against the Tolmeekian horde.

Naruto ran with Sol and tapped his combadge. "Lieutenant Uzumaki to Prometheus!"

"Go ahead."

"I have one severally injured man here that needs immediate medical attention!"

"Understood. Medical squad is en route."

Naruto picked up the other side of the injured man to help carry him back inside their base. The sounds of battle began to drown out along with the occasional explosion that Naruto instinctively knew came from Kurama's tailed beast bomb.

"Clear a table!" Naruto shouted to the reserve Starfleet forces getting ready to relieve their comrades.

A table was quickly cleared off and Naruto and Sol gingerly laid their injured comrade on the table.

"Shit... He looks bad..." Naruto cursed.

 _'Where is Sakura-chan when you need her?'_

 _ **'On maternity leave?'**_

 _'Kinda rhetorical!'_ Naruto thought as the onsite medic came over to inspect the patient.

"I don't think there is anything I can do for him." She said as she scanned the poor man with her tricorder.

"There is someone who can..." Naruto said before tapping his combadge. "Uzumaki to Enterprise."

"Go ahead." Picard replied.

"Sir, I need Sakura here now. I have a dying man here and the medics can't do anything for him."

"Lieutenant Haruno is on maternity leave. You know this." Picard replied.

"I know! But she is the only one that can save this man's life!"

"That might be the case, but I can't transport her to you. The ship is still undergoing repairs and I'm not about to send a pregnant woman into the middle of a war zone."

"Then put her on a video conference or something! I need her to take a look and see what this other medic missed!" Naruto exclaimed.

Picard sighed. "Mr. Worf... Patch Sakura in on this."

"Aye sir." Worf replied.

* * *

In Sakura's room, her screen came on with a view of Naruto looking directly at her.

"N-Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan listen-"

"Oh my God! What happened to your face?!" Sakura interrupted. Naruto's right side had been littered with tiny bits of hot metal and stone. Making his skin look like he was repeatedly pounded on with a meat tenderizer. Coupled with the fresh cuts leaking blood, he looked like something out of Sakura's nightmares.

"Don't worry about me, there is someone here who is in far worse shape." Naruto said firmly as the screen changed to a guy laying on the table.

"Oh god... Get closer so I can see."

Naruto leaned the tablet closer and slowly waved it over the man's face and torso.

"I'm seeing see-saw motion in his chest. He's got a collapsed lung which would explain his labored breathing. The first thing you need to do is put a chest tube in to ease his breathing." Sakura instructed, now in full medic mode.

Naruto looked over at the only trained medic on site.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yes sir." The medic replied as she inserted a chest tube. Blood came out at first, but soon after the man was breathing better.

"Good. Now, check your tricorder for anymore internal injuries and I want a full readout of his vitals." Sakura ordered.

The medic on the other end did as she was told. "Ruptured spleen and torn liver. There are also extensive rib fractures."

"Shit... Give me his vitals."

"BP is 75 over 40, pulse is 180, respiration's are 28." The medic listed off.

"He's not gonna make it..." Sakura mused.

Naruto took the tablet back and stared into it. "Isn't there anything you can do?" He pleaded.

"Not from here I can't. He needs to be here for me to treat him properly." Sakura said sadly.

"How long?" Naruto asked an explosion rang outside.

"Minutes at best without proper care..."

"Shit, alright!" Naruto said as he handed Sol the tablet and reached for his combadge.

"Looks like Phase 2 will have to begin a little early." Naruto muttered before opening up his channel. "Attention all hands; Phase 2 will now commence! Kurama, you know what to do." Naruto ordered.

 **"About time."** Kurama smirked.

"Everyone! Cover Kurama the fox! And don't freak out!" Naruto ordered.

"Yes sir!" The troops exclaimed, before stopping dead in their tracks when they watched Kurama increase in mass till he was as big as a mountain.

The Tolmeekians, even the ones that were still coming, stopped their charge and stared in awe and fear of Kurama's new form.

Kurama looked down at his prey and smirked. **"Who dies first..."** Kurama growled.

It is said that in every religious culture there is always a tale about the apocalypse. Some divine being or great storm that would descend from on high and bring about the destruction of the world. The inevitable end to all life as we know it. On that day, the Tolmeekians met the face of one such harbinger of death.

His limbs smashed into the ground like ancient trees, his tails whooshed gracefully through the air like the clouds of a great storm. They kicked up mighty gusts of wind that even the mighty Tolmeekian Battalion head for the fort felt its gusts cut into their skin and his roar chill them to their core. He loomed like something intangible and unstoppable.

For added effect, he unleashed a torrent of fires from his massive jaw. Igniting the skies and setting the fields surrounding the fort ablaze. It was a vision from Hell itself.

* * *

Back on the bridge of the Enterprise.

"Captain, you have to see this!"

"What is it, Ensign?" Picard asked.

"It's...it's...it's a monster, sir!" The Ensign had no other words for it. There was no other point of reference for it.

"What do you mean, a monster?" Picard asked.

"I'll put it on screen." The Ensign said as the main screen flashed over to the ship's bottom camera that had eyes on the skies for the ground battle.

Picard stood up from his chair in shock and awe. "Sweet Jesus..." he breathed out.

The fort had been obscured completely and all that could be seen was some massive beast of red fur with nine beautiful tails, two rabbit ears, and wearing a gigantic yellow Starfleet vest.

"Is that... Kurama...?" Riker asked in shock.

"It can't be...but his vest..." Worf stuttered.

"Captain. I believe I recall something about the tales of Element referencing such a creature bringing about the destruction of the leaf Village. It is referenced as a giant Fox with nine tails. I do believe that Karama is that demon." Data informed.

"That thing was sealed inside Naruto?" Picard breathed out.

"Astounding... Naruto is a true warrior..." Worf breathed out.

"He's something alright..." Troi spoke up.

"I think he was holding back during your fight, Worf." Riker said.

"How can something so massive exist?" Geordi asked no one in particular. "Its bones would have to be stronger than any known material."

"I think I know someone who can give us answers." Picard said firmly as he opened a communications channel. "Bridge to Lieutenant Haruno."

* * *

Back with Sakura, she was still holding up her tablet and walking the onsite medic through basic first aid when an unmistakable roar howled through the base and through the tablet's audio.

"What the FUCK was that?!" The medic cried.

"Phase 2 of my boyfriend's plan. Now focus!" Sakura barked.

"Bridge to Lieutenant Haruno." Picard spoke through Sakura's combadge.

"Lieutenant Haruno here. I'm kinda busy at the moment." Sakura replied.

"It can wait. Explain to me what Kurama really is." Picard ordered.

"It cannot. My patient needs a shuttle or a teleporter to this ship in the next 10 minutes or he is going to be in trouble."

"I'll send word to Captain Harrison of the Prometheus to get him aboard immediately. Now explain to me what's going on." Picard ordered again as he sent a message to Captain Harrison.

"Phase 2 of Naruto's plan. Kurama would take on his true form and scare the Tolmeekians away." Sakura explained.

"This... Is Kurama's true form...? How can something be so big?"

"I don't know. A lot of animals on our planet are oversized. Although Kurama is technically a sentient being made of chakra."

"So that's it... Then, his powers are truly limitless..." Picard said.

"Not anymore." Sakura replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Did I say that out loud? Shoot, it's not important, just that Naruto's powers aren't limitless."

"So then... His power is only as good as Naruto's... How long can he stay in that form?"

"As long as he wants. It is his original form." Sakura said simply.

"And this doesn't pose a threat to the ship, does it? Or our troops for that matter?"

This made Sakura hesitate. The doubt. Her greatest fears for Naruto stood on the precipice.

"I'd stake my life and my reputation as a medical doctor that Kurama poses no threat to anyone aboard this ship. Nor to anyone he considers his ally. If you can trust Naruto, you can trust Kurama."

"Very well... That's all I wanted to know. Picard out."

Sakura sighed then returned to her screen.

 _'Looks like the cat is out of the bag now.'_ Inner thought.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Hey guys, were back, kinda…**

 **First off, were both ecstatic that you guys all still love this story. Even a month later we are still getting reviews here and there, plus the favs and follows count just keeps climbing. Here's to it staying that way.**

 **Anyway, so we have a question for you guys. A few weeks back cmartin's files got corrupted which destroyed our copies of the next few chapters. In those chapters we had written that for reasons I can't remember, Sakura LOSES THE BABY.**

 **So yeah, the loss of those files made us go back and rewrite some chapters, but not without reaching a disagreement on whether or not we should kill off the baby or not. I wanted to kill it off (god that sounds terrible) to free up Sakura for more missions, while cmartin wants to keep it so that we can have a narusaku family early on. We couldn't decide so now we want YOU the readers to be the tie breaker.**

 **Same with Legacy of Heroes, you vote by telling us what you want in a review or through a PM (so that people don't think that we're fishing for reviews).**

 **After a couple of chapters, we will tally up the votes. The side with the most votes or the most convincing argument will decide the fate of Naruto and Sakura's first child. (Cause lets be real, them having a kid was going to happen eventually in this story, this just feels too soon to me personally.)**

 **So tell us what you want to see, should we go dark and edgy or keep things light and wholesome? Maybe you want to take things a step further and pick out a name for the kid?**

 **Other than than, tell us what you thought of the chapter, what you'd like to see more of, or less of. We read all the reviews and we take constructive criticism seriously.**

 **Thank you all and have a great day.**


	14. Chapter 14: Borg Attack

**Okay okay, jeez, we won't kill off the baby. We're glad that we have so many people who are concerned for our characters. I personally thought that it would take 3 chapters to reach a consensus, but you guys made it overwhelmingly clear in one. Guess that means that we have to change a few future chapters.**

 **So with that out of the way, tell us your suggestions for the daughter's name. We've already got a pretty good idea of what we want, but perhaps you all can suggest something even better. Besides, who says that this will be their last daughter? (Wink wink, nudge nudge)**

 **And without further ado, enjoy.**

* * *

Out in space above the planet, the Enterprise was in bad shape. Plasma leaked from the warp nacelles, many Hull breaches were found all over the ship and plasma fires leaked from some of them. The Enterprise D, was done in for now.

A meeting between the most senior staff members was being called as Naruto and his squad returned from the battlefield.

In the captain's ready room, Picard and Riker were going over the damage report.

"It's not good, number one." Picard sighed.

"Sir...as much as I hate to say it, I think we need to abandon ship." Riker suggested.

"To where and what point? The Prometheus doesn't have the capacity we need to get everyone off the ship and the outpost is under siege." Picard pointed out.

"Perhaps we should evacuate to the planet's surface until Star Fleet can arrange transportation for us back to Earth and construct us a brand new ship." Riker suggested.

"They are already working on a new Enterprise." Picard sighed.

"Sir?" Riker asked.

"I heard from Starfleet that the Enterprise was going to be decommissioned and renamed in 5 months. The Enterprise E is sitting at Utopia Planitia shipyards."

"I see. Well that works out in the end. Seems that we will be enjoying a month vacation then." Riker said.

Picard stood up and went to his replicator. "Tea. Earl grey, hot." He ordered. The cup of tea appeared and he started sipping the piping hot drink. "There...is still one major problem."

"What's that, sir?"

"Getting down to the planet. Our shuttle bay doors are destroyed and transporters are offline."

"If it's not one damn thing, it's another." Riker sighed.

"Yes...the launch sequence for the escape pods is offline and the saucer can't land on the planet without crashing."

"Captains yacht?"

"Too small to hold everyone." Picard sighed.

Then it hit Riker. "Sir, what about the Prometheus?"

"I just said it's too small."

"No, I'm not suggesting that it would hold us. Merely act as a hub to transport our crew to the planet's surface.

"Hmm...that's not a bad idea..." Picard mused.

"Thank you, sir. Shall I give the order?"

"Not yet. Let's assemble the rest of the staff for a meeting. Captain Harrison will be attending."

"Yes sir." Riker said as he witnessed a notice on his computer screen.

"Captain, Lieutenant Uzumaki and his squads have returned aboard the Enterprise."

"Good. Have them report to the staff lounge. Bring Sakura as well." Picard ordered.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Back in the transporter room, Naruto and his surviving squad were a sight to behold. Battle for a few hours on land before being picked up by the Prometheus and teleported back to the Enterprise would do that to you. No one got out with scars, but Naruto in particular looked like he had been hit in the side of the face with a couple of glass bottles. Kurama's fur was dusty and caked with blood splatters. Yet the both of them were grinning like they had just come back from an intense squirt gun fight.

"One up for Starfleet!" Naruto cheered as he and his team walked to sickbay.

The men and women all cheered in response. They sounded like a war party returning to their tribe victorious, since they were.

They rounded the corner to sickbay, where it was overflowing with injured. All of the medical staff was working around the clock to heal the injured.

"Geez, maybe we should have stayed on the Prometheus." Naruto said as he saw the medical staff buzzing around.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" A woman shrieked.

Before Naruto could even say hello to his girlfriend she laid into him with a fury of slaps.

"You. Jerk. Making. Me. Worry. Like. That!" She lectured, every word being accompanied by a slap to the arm.

 **"To be fair, he's been through worse."** Kurama pointed out.

Sakura just looked over at Kurama with demon eyes. "Don't you sass me. Calls me out of nowhere with his face all injured and I'm stuck on the ship unable to help him. Why haven't you healed him yet?"

 **"I haven't returned to his body yet. Apparently my absence impacts his healing ability."** Kurama suggested.

"Then get your ass back inside him and heal him!" Sakura spat before turning back to her lover. "As for you, sit down and let me heal you up." She ordered.

"Seriously Sakura-chan. I'm fine. Just a couple of nicks. You should focus on the more seriously injured." Naruto said, trying to down play his injuries. But Sakura would have none of it.

"Well I'm off duty so I can be selfish on who I treat first. So sit down." Sakura insisted.

"Actually, that needs to wait." Crusher stated.

"M'Lady- I mean, Doctor?" Sakura asked.

"We've been called for a meeting...to discuss the evacuation of the ship." Crusher said grimly.

The two Shinobi looked concerned. All around them hushed whispers began to spread about abandoning the ship.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"The captain will discuss that when we get there. Let's go."

Naruto looked over at his men who looked squared away enough to stand waiting for medical attention before he stood up. No one else saw this except for Sakura. Who was reminded of their time as ANBU. There was a reason that Naruto was promoted to ANBU Captain so quickly. He was the type of commander who truly cared about the men under his command. He'd see them all receive full medical treatment before he'd even consider putting a Band-Aid on. And never would he ever abandon them. It was part of the reason Sakura had insisted on staying in the squad led by Naruto as the medic, rather than being given her own squad to command.

Leaders like him were hard to come by, even more so when they turned out to be your friend.

* * *

The three made their way to the elevator and up to the meeting room where not all of the other senior officers had arrived.

"If you're wondering where Geordi is, he's holding this ship together by a thread." Picard informed.

"We're that bad?" Sakura asked. She knew the ship took a beating, but she didn't know the extent.

"We have about 4 hours of life support left. All of our major systems are offline and reserve power is draining fast. We had to eject the warp core to save our asses, but now we need to leave the ship. She's too far gone to save." Riker added sadly.

 **"Shit, does that mean we have to abandon our begonias?"** Kurama asked. The flowers in their quarters had been coming in nicely.

Picard sighed. "Captain Harrison is going to use the transporters on board the Prometheus to transport us down to the planet. The Klingon settlement there wasn't hit, thankfully. From there we will await our transport, the USS Typhon, to pick us all up and take us to Earth." Picard informed.

Picard then stood up. "In the meantime, I have an announcement to make." Picard then opened a channel to everyone in the ship. "All hands, this is the captain. I am ordering a general abandon ship. Gather what belongings you can, make sure your friends and family are safe with you and make your way to the transporter pads. You will be beamed aboard the USS Prometheus before transporting to the Klingon colony. You have two hours, Picard out."

"So this is really happening..." Naruto said. It was funny. They had only spent two months aboard yet this ship felt just as much like home as anywhere else he had lived at. In some ways, even more so.

"Computer, sound off abandon ship alarm, initiate auto destruct in two hours thirty minutes. Authorization Picard Alpha 14." Picard ordered.

"Holy shit, self-destruct? Isn't that a bit extreme?" Naruto asked surprised.

"That is standard procedure. When one of our ships is too damaged to be salvaged, we destroy it so our technology doesn't fall into enemy hands." Picard explained.

 **"Makes sense."** Kurama commented.

"And it can't be salvaged? I know that the life support is failing but couldn't work crews come with spacesuits and salvage more things?" Sakura suggested.

"The ship is falling apart at the seams, Lieutenant. Believe me when I say that none of us want to see this ship go. But...her damage is far too extensive." Picard said sadly.

"She was doomed to be decommissioned in 5 months anyway." Riker added.

"Decommissioned? Why?" Sakura asked.

"A new class of ship, the Sovereign class advanced battlecruiser, has been struck. One of them is the Enterprise. 1701-E." Picard said as he brought up an image of the ship in question.

Everyone there stood in awe at their new home. It wasn't finished but it was a fantastic looking ship nonetheless. It was sleek, slender, and tough looking.

"Amazing..." Crushed breathed out.

"Woah..." Riker said in awe.

"It will be the most advanced starship in the fleet. The legacy of the Enterprise, doesn't end here. So long as her crew is still flying her, she'll forever sail the stars with her family at the helm." Picard said softly with a small smile on his face.

"Oh man. I'm getting excited." Naruto said giddy.

"Well, don't get too excited. You two still need to pack up. You have two hours so get to it. That goes for everyone. Dismissed." Picard ordered.

Everyone stood up and the two bodyguards plus the fox returned to their quarters.

Once there, Sakura got right to work healing Naruto.

"A couple of cuts, but nothing serious."

Naruto just smiled as he leaned his head into Sakura's palm. Letting her soothing healing Chakra wash away his injuries. It felt warm and cool to the touch, like he didn't have anything to worry about.

"Is there anything else?" Sakura asked in her doctor tone of voice. "Anything else hurting you?"

"Nope..." Naruto said softly.

"Good. Now hold me for a second, would you?" She said as she wrapped Naruto up in a warm hug. So very grateful that he was back safe and sound.

"Everything is going to change now..." Sakura said softly.

"Yup, but we've been through change before. We'll get through it like we always do. Together." Naruto stated as he held Sakura tightly.

"Yes we will." She said happily before breaking away. "Come on. Let's pack."

 **"Um...what's that?"** Kurama asked as he pointed out of their window.

The two looked out the window at an object that was cubed shape that was heading right for them. Then they heard an eerie noise come on through the audio.

 **"WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."**

"I think they are the Borg." Naruto said trying to fake a laugh.

 **"Nooo...ya think?!"** Kurama exclaimed sarcastically.

The red alert klaxon sounded.

"All hands this is the captain! I need everyone to evacuate to the saucer section of the ship and prepare for emergency separation!" Picard announced.

"Come on Sakura, let's go." Naruto said as he picked up his pregnant girlfriend bridal style.

"Naruto...we're in the saucer section." Sakura deadpanned.

"We are?" He exclaimed as he felt very stupid for picking Sakura up like that. Expecting to have to run down the halls or something.

"Yes, we are. Look at the map once in a while."

"Sorry. Guess I got caught up in the moment." He laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So what do we do? Cause I've got half a mind to assemble my team again." Naruto admitted.

"I don't know. Honestly, I'd wish you'd stay here. These Borg guys creep me out"

"Well if the Captain needs me to defend the crew against these guys then I'll do it. I'll protect them and I'll protect you." He said as his hands once again fell on Sakura's belly. Indicating that he was talking to the both of them.

That was when they heard a crash in Kurama's room.

 **"What was that?"** Kurama asked.

"I don't know. Stay here and protect Sakura." Naruto ordered as he drew out a kunai and carefully looked around the corner. What he saw was not what he expected. There stood a man with all kinds of mechanical objects coming out of him, tubes and hoses going in him all over the place, black armor like suit and extremely pale skin and no hair.

It was a very terrifying sight. He never imagined that a species could look so...mutilated and molested.

"Sweet Sage..." Naruto gasped out. He dared not utter a word, but then his radio crackled to life.

"Picard to Lieutenant Uzumaki."

"I'm here and we've got a situation." Naruto responded.

"Yes, I'm aware. You are ordered not to engage, repeat, do NOT engage the drone. If it touches you, you will be assimilated. I have a security team en route to you as we speak." Picard said.

"If he comes near Sakura-"

"It won't attack unless it considers you a threat." Picard informed.

"So I'm just playing tag with this thing?"

"Just observe for now until security arrives."

"Right." Naruto said as he looked back at Sakura and Kurama and signaled for them to be quiet.

Sakura and Kurama nodded.

Naruto watched the drone roam around Kurama's room and attempting to use inactive computer panels. The drone made its way out of Kurama's room where Sakura got full view of it.

 _'Good god...'_ Sakura thought in horror. This was not what she was expecting to see.

The drone tried to access the computer terminals in the living area, only to discover they were inactive as well. With nothing to gain, the drone was surrounded by a green light and disappeared.

 **"Well that was creepy as hell."** Kurama sighed.

"Sage of Six Paths...I never knew they looked like that..." Sakura gasped.

"You're telling me. He looked like a man merged with a computer." Naruto added.

Just then, the security team arrived with Riker leading it.

"You guys okay?" Riker asked.

"We're fine. That thing came in here, checked out our computers, and then teleported away." Naruto reported.

"It was looking for information. Since our main computer is offline, they can't access any of it. We're useless to them right now." Riker said.

"That's it? I thought they also wanted to assimilate people or something?" Naruto asked.

"They do, only if they see us as a threat."

"So that's it then? We never engage them and they leave us alone?"

"Essentially. They might come back so stay alert." Riker advised.

"Was anyone else hurt?" Sakura asked.

"None that were reported, but I need help from Naruto to help evacuate the star drive section of the ship." Riker said.

Sakura was hoping she didn't have to hear that. "I really wish you'd stay..." She said to Naruto sadly.

Naruto ran over and landed a big old kiss on her forehead, tasting that scent that was so uniquely hers.

"I do too, but other people need my help and I know I'd never be able to stop you if someone needed your help." He reminded her.

"I know...just be careful." Sakura said before locking her lips with his.

The two of them kept their lips locked for some time while the security team with Riker collectively thought, _'Lucky bastard.'_

They spent another moment before parting. "When you come back, I have some name suggestions from some of the crew I want to go over with you." Sakura said.

"Sounds like the perfect way to end the day." Naruto smiled as he regretfully parted with her. "Keep her safe." Naruto said to Kurama.

 **"No harm will come to Vixen or little Kit."** Kurama assured.

Naruto nodded before joining the security team.

"Let's move. We'll start at deck 42 and work our way up from there." Riker ordered.

"Right!" Naruto said.

As they all left, Sakura sat down on the couch and rubbed her belly. "Wanna hear what I have planned?" She asked Kurama.

 **"I guess...seeing as I don't have anything better to do."** Kurama shrugged.

"I got a lot of Earth names. Zoey is one of them."

 **"Nah..."**

"Amanda?"

 **"...only if she was blond like kit."**

"Yea, I don't like it either. Kiara?"

 **"Not bad, but that sounds a little preppy."**

"Agreed. Angel?"

 **"Angel Haruno or Angel Uzumaki?"**

"It would be Angel Uzumaki."

 **"You sure? You're not married to Kit yet."**

"Doesn't mean I won't be. I heard him talking to Data in Ten Forward the other day saying he wants to marry me before our little girl is born."

 **"Huh. Well I don't like either. Angel sounds like the name you'd give to a baby you lose."**

"I never thought of it that way...damn… I kinda liked that name."

 **"What others do you have?"**

"Hmm...I got Victoria from Crusher."

 **"Oh hell no. How about Kushina? After Kits mother."**

"Maybe if she's got red hair." Sakura said.

 **"What about your mother?"**

"My mother? Well, her name is Mebuki, so...eeehhh... that would be too confusing when we get back home."

 **"So that rules out Tsunade and god forbid Ino."**

"Ino is a family name in her clan so that wouldn't work anyway. Wait, how about Chiyo?"

 **"Chiyo? That name sounds familiar."**

"She was the head medic for the Sand. I met her when we went to save Gaara."

 **"Oh right, that old crow. The one that helped Kit save the One Tail's vessel."**

"Yea, that's her."

 **"Chiyo...I like that name."**

"I do too, but it's just as much Naruto's decision as well."

 **"Given who Chiyo was. I'd say he would like that name."**

"I hope so." Sakura said fondly.

* * *

As time went on, Naruto and his clones had made an entire sweep of the lower decks before making it to engineering. Every deck so far was cleared and was almost finished. He just needed to clear 8 more decks and he'd be finished.

"Uzumaki to Riker, deck 16 is clear, moving onto 15." Naruto said.

"The last few decks reported in as clear. make your way back to your quarters and prepare for saucer sep." Riker replied.

"Understood. Uzumaki out." Naruto replied.

As Naruto tried to make his way back, 7 drones appeared in front of him.

"Son of a..."

 **"We are Borg. Resistance is futile."** The drones said in sync.

"Fuck me..." Naruto cursed before making a dozen Shadow Clones then he tapped his combadge. "Uzumaki to bridge! 7 drones appeared in main engineering!"

Picard's face went as white as a ghost. "Get out of there, Naruto. We're initiating saucer separation."

"I've got my Shadow Clones ready. I can take them without even touching them."

"Leave your clones to the drones, you get out of there." Picard ordered.

"Yes, sir. Have fun boys." Naruto said as he promptly left his Shadow Clones with the Borg drones.

The clone gang just stood firm against the drones. "So you bastards think you can just waltz in here like you own it? We'll show you not to mess with our home and endanger our loved ones." One clone shouted as the others cheered him on.

 **"Personal attachments are irrelevant. You will be assimilated."** The drones responded.

"Fuck you. We're gonna rip your heads off and keep'em as trophies." Another clone shouted back.

 **"Resistance is futile."**

"Your mother is futile!" Another clone shouted. In response the drones raised up their mechanical arms and fired plasma bolts at the clones.

The clones all dodged, with only two being slow enough to get hit and dissipate.

"Get'em!" The lead clone shouted as all his brothers charged.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto was making a mad dash back to his quarters, taking Jefferies tubes and vents to reach Deck 8.

One by one the memories of his clones began to return to him. He remembered trying to punch one of the Brog. He succeeded, only for another drone to inject him with its nanomachines. He tried throwing kunai at them, yet only wind Chakra enhanced blades could pierce a drone's hide it seemed.

He tried phasers, but after a few tries the drones had put up a protective shield around them and did the same thing when he used a Rasengan more than once.

 _'Incredible, they can adapt to freaking chakra.'_ He thought.

He finally made it to deck 8 and sealed off the exit with his phaser.

"Uzumaki to Picard. I'm back in the saucer." Naruto reported.

"Understood." Picard said before turning to Data. "Separate the ship, now."

"Aye, sir. Initiating starship separation." Data responded.

"Mr. Hanley, full impulse once we are clear of the stardrive section." Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir." Hanley responded.

Naruto heard what sounded like large clamps releasing from where he was and the whole saucer shook for a moment.

He received the last memory of his clones. They had only killed 5 of the 7 drones.

"Perfect timing." Naruto said out loud before running back to his quarters.

"What about Tokaio?" Sakura asked Kurama as they both relaxed on the couch.

 **"Interesting, but that sounds more of a boy's name honestly."**

"I'd put it on the back burner." Mrs. Adams suggested. Her and her family lived on deck 20 so they had to move temporarily to Sakura's quarters.

"What about Sally?" Sally suggested, earning a giggle from Sakura.

"No, then I wouldn't be able to tell you two apart, you'd both be so cute." Sakura said as she ruffled Sally's hair.

"Samantha?" Mrs. Adams asked

 **"Too long."** Kurama said.

"Well, you can use Sam for short." Mr. Adams informed.

"Nah..." Sakura waved off.

"Rose?" Mrs. Adams suggested.

"I like that one! It's pretty!" Sally said happily.

"I think so, too." Naruto said as he walked in.

"Hey lovey." Sakura greeted and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Talking about names already, huh?" Naruto asked as he returned the kiss.

"Uh huh. We picked out a few good ones." Sakura smiled.

"Oh, what about Natalie?" Mr. Adams suggested.

"Not bad." Sakura mused.

"I actually like Rose." Naruto admitted.

"Well I also picked out Angel and Chiyo. Which ones do you like more?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm..." Naruto sat down, deep in thought about the 3 names in question.

"Well Rose and Angle are just names. Chiyo is that name of that old lady from the Sand who sacrificed herself to save Gaara, right?" He said out of the blue.

"Yes, she is." Sakura confirmed.

Naruto just sat there in thought for a second. "Did I ever tell you why I was named Naruto?" He asked Sakura.

"Um...I can't remember. Pregnancy brain here."

"Well my parents didn't actually pick out the name Naruto because they thought it would be funny to name me after fishcakes, a ramen topping." He mused. "They picked it out of a book, the main character who was a hero that sought peace for the entire ninja world. They hoped that I would inherit that hero's spirit and become like that character who would tirelessly work to make our world a better world."

"Wow...I had no idea..." Sakura breathed out. Now it made sense why Naruto was the way he is. Even the Adams family was intrigued by this story.

"I should also mention that Pervy Sage was the one who wrote that book and he thought up the name while eating a bowl of ramen." Naruto deadpanned.

"Why am I not surprised..." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"But anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I like the idea of a name meaning something. And giving our daughter the name of someone who sacrificed herself to right the wrongs of her past and spare the next generation from her sins. That just feels like an honor, ya know?" Naruto stated.

Now Sakura knew what he was getting at. "Then, Chiyo it is. That is if she has pink hair. If she has red hair...I wanted to name her after your mother."

"Well what if she has my blond hair?" Naruto asked.

"Sh-shoot...Um...haven't thought of that..." Sakura mused.

 **"Well if it comes to that, just please don't name her Naruko."** Kurama said.

"Oh god no... That's not happening." Sakura firmly.

"Why not Naruko?" Sally asked.

 **"It's what Kit calls himself whenever he uses his Sexy Jutsu."** Kurama whispered in the 6-year old's ear.

"KURAMA! Don't tell her that!" Sakura scolded.

"What's sexy?" Sally asked.

"Never you mind. You'll know when you're older." Sakura said firmly, followed by a nod from her mother and father.

"Ahem, anyway so Kushina is she's a red head, and Chiyo if she's blond or has pink hair. How about that?" Naruto suggested.

"Yes, that works just fine." Sakura nodded.

* * *

On the bridge, the crew could only look on as half of the ship flew away from the battle between the Borg Cube and the Prometheus. That was when a rogue plasma torpedo from the Cube hit the star drive section of the Enterprise and blew it up.

"Well...this is the end of the Enterprise D..." Picard said with a heavy heart.

"It'll be the end of all of us if the Prometheus can't destroy that Borg Cube." One of the meeker bridge crewman muttered.

"Noted, Ensign." Picard said dryly.

On the screen, the Prometheus let loose a silo of Quantum Torpedoes at the looming Borg Cube.

"Moderate damage to the cube." Data informed.

"Captain, 3 federation ships have just warped in." Worf announced.

"Thank god..." Picard sighed.

"Confirmed. The USS Melbourne, USS Adelphi and USS Saratoga have arrived." Data Confirmed.

"They are targeting the Cube and firing." Worf announced.

The ships in question were a Melbourne Class, Ambassador class and Miranda Tactical frigate respectively. They simultaneously unloaded a barrage of phasers and photons upon the Borg Cube, giving the Enterprise Saucer time to get further away.

The Cube fired back, targeting the Adelphi. The constant barrage made the Ambassador class ship drop its shields for 2 seconds, which was the time the Borg needed to send a legion of drones into the interior of the ship.

"The Adelphi has been boarded." Worf informed.

"They're not going to last. We need the fleet to take this out." Riker said grimly.

"Or one unpredictable ninja." Picard mused.

"Sir, I'm receiving an open channel transmission from the Adelphi." One Ensign reported.

"On audio." Picard ordered.

The transmission crackled to life.

"-THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" The man on the radio cried. "They got into the civilian section of the ship and are killing everybody! Oh sweet Jesus, Debra is down there! The Borg will kill us all! Oh please God, send help!" Behind the man could be heard crewmen frantically running back and forth with explosions and phaser fire going off in the distance as well as the alarm sounding overhead.

"Oh Christ! They're near the bridge!"

"SOMEONE GET THAT MAN AWAY FROM THE CONSOLE AND KILL THE TRANSMISSION!" The Captain of the Adelphi barked at his crew before the audio was cut.

"Enterprise to Adelphi. Do you need assistance?" Picard asked over the channel.

"I can't raise them, sir." The Ensign replied.

"Dammit..." Picard cursed.

"Incoming transmission from the Melbourne." Worf informed.

"On screen."

"Captain Picard, this is Captain Johnson. We just received word that Admiral Hanson has just dispatched the fleet to our location. The 34th Borg Defense Fleet is en route, plus one other ship." Captain Johnson informed.

"What ship would that be?" Picard asked.

"Admiral Hansen is an hour out with the USS Yamato."

"That won't be good enough. We need something to turn the tables on this fight or we won't survive the hour." Picard said.

"What would you suggest?" Johnson asked.

"We need to take out the Cube's shield and all our remaining weapons can tear into it." Picard reminded him.

"Yes, but we'd need a 10 gigaton bomb to disrupt its shields and last I checked none of our ships had that equipped." Johnson said.

"So then we'll just use the ships themselves. More specifically, the Enterprise saucer." Picard offered.

"Sir?" The others on the bridge questioned.

"I've already set my ship to explode before the Borg showed up. If we time it right. We can get my crew off the ship and then have the Melbourne and the Saratoga use their tractor beams to slingshot the saucer at the Cube. The explosion should prove sufficient in destroying the Borg Shields." Picard explained.

"Correction, the saucer would pass through the shields and slice through the hull. This would actually destroy it." Data corrected.

"There you go. I don't know about you Captain, but that sounds like the best sendoff I could ever hope my beloved Enterprise." Picard stated.

"Sounds good. Prepare your crew to transport aboard my ship. We have more than enough capacity for them." Johnson said.

"We'll have them converge on the transporter room. Have your transporter cue in on their coordinates." Picard said.

"Will do, Melbourne out."

Picard quickly keyed the ship's intercom. "This is Picard. All non-combative personal head for the transporter room. Take nothing more than what you can carry. This will be our last time standing aboard the Enterprise-D."

* * *

When Naruto and Sakura heard this, they turned pale in the face.

"That's us. Come on Sally." Mr. Adams said as he took his daughter by the hand while his wife followed close behind.

"Sakura-chan you go to." Naruto said firmly.

"I'm not leaving you, damn it." She cursed, not realizing that Sally was still in earshot.

"This isn't open for debate, Sakura. You're on maternity leave, that makes you non-combative. This is the only time I say this." Naruto said in the same authorities tone he used during the war.

Sakura pouted like a child. Damn it, it he was so frustrating when he was right.

"Fine...you're right." She said. _'Sometimes I really hate being pregnant.'_

"You're going to be transported over to the Melbourne. It's a Nebula Class variant so the layout is similar to the Enterprise. You'll be safe over there."

"Alright...just be careful." Sakura said softly as she followed the Adams to the transporter room.

 **"I think I'll just get back inside the seal for now."** Kurama said before poofing out of existence.

 _ **'Ah, feels like I'm back in my old den.'**_

Naruto tapped his combadge. "Uzumaki to bridge. I'm here if ya need me."

"Yes, I need you on the Melbourne. " Picard said.

"Sir?" Naruto asked, hoping for the Captain to elaborate.

"The Melbourne is still a threat to the Borg, so they need someone like you to keep everyone safe."

Naruto smiled. "Yes, sir."

He put away his Com and dashed out the door where Sakura and the others were still making their way down the hall to the elevator.

"Hey wait up, guys!"

Sakura turned around. "Naruto?"

"Guess who got picked for a security detail on the Melbourne." He grinned as he wrapped his arm around Sakura's shoulders.

"Oh good. I'm glad you're coming too.' Sakura said with a sigh of relief.

"Same here." Naruto said as they entered the already crowded elevator.

"This sucks..." Sakura protested.

"Well it could be worse." Naruto said as he squeezed inside.

"Ugh. This isn't what I mean."

"What did you mean?"

"We leave our home on Element, we make a new home here and it gets destroyed after 2 months...it bums me out, ya know?"

"Oh..." Naruto said, he had forgotten about that. While it was true that he had come to call this ship home, it wasn't something that he felt truly attached to. This was a boy that had lived in the same tiny apartment all his life and would call the Leaf village his home more than his actual flat. But for Sakura, she had a family in her apartment. That made the actual places her home rather than the brood strokes.

"Well hey, we've still got each other and we've still got the crew with us. Where ever they go, that'll be home, right?" He said as he was crammed in between two crewmen.

Sakura gave a small smile. "Yea, you're right."

After a while they made it to transporter room 3 where the group before them just got beamed over.

"Next group." O'Brien called.

Naruto's group was next. He, Sakura, The Adams and a few others stepped onto the pad.

"Next group is ready, Melbourne." O'Brien said.

"Acknowledged. Energizing." The chief from the Melbourne said. Soon the group dematerialized and reappeared on the Melbourne's transporter pad.

"Welcome. Please proceed to the designated meeting zone. The map on the companels will direct you." The chief informed.

"Thank you." Sakura said before her and her group left the transporter room and followed the map down the hall. It looked exactly the same as the Enterprise, probably because the Nebula class was intended to use destroyed Galaxy class Saucers to be moved to a star base for when their star drive sections were destroyed.

Soon after walking around, a security officer met up with them.

"I'm Ensign Jack Summers. I'll be escorting you all to deck 4. There is a crew block that you will be staying in until we reach Earth."

They all nodded and proceeded to their destination.

* * *

Back on the enterprise, the last of the crew was beaming off.

"That was the last group." Worf informed.

Picard stood up and took one last look around the bridge. He had so many memories on this ship and it tore him up to say goodbye once and for all, but he knew he had to do it.

"I'm gonna miss this ship, she went before her time." Riker said sadly.

"Someone once said that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives." Picard started. "That's why we must live for the moment while we can, because it will never come again."

"Well said." Riker smiled.

Worf, Troi, Riker, Geordi, Data and Crusher all gathered around Picard so they could be the last ones to leave.

"Picard to Melbourne... 7 to beam up." Picard said over the coms.

Soon they were surrounded by a blue light and vanished from the bridge of the ship with 5 minutes left until he Saucer detonated.

* * *

On the bridge of the Melbourne, the senior officers of the Enterprise appeared in front of the bridge crew.

"Captain Picard. Good to see you alive and well." Captain Johnson greeted.

"Likewise. Now, let's see off our ship." Picard said bitterly as they all turned to the view screen.

"Lieutenant Mathews, engage tractor beam and coordinate with the Saratoga." Johnson ordered.

"Aye sir. Coordinating with the Saratoga now. Tractor beam locking on."

"Engage." Johnson ordered.

Out in space, both the Melbourne and Saratoga engaged their tractor beams, locking the hulk of the Enterprise in place.

"On my mark, helm, engage full impulse. Coordinate with the Saratoga."

"Aye sir." The helmsman replied and set the coordinates.

"Response from the Saratoga, they're ready." Mathews reported.

"Care to do the honors, Jean Luc?" Johnson offered and Picard nodded.

The senior staff of the Enterprise took a moment of silence before sending off their ship. 11 years...11 long years they had been on that ship, and it was bittersweet to see it go so suddenly.

"...Engage..." Picard choked out.

Both ships rocketed towards the Borg Cube with the Enterprise Saucer in tow.

"At least she'll go out with a bang..." Riker said sadly.

"And take out one of those Borg Cubes. A sendoff worthy of the finest battleships." Worf commented.

"Agreed, Lieutenant." Johnson said.

In that moment the two ships cut the tractor beams off and the crew watched as the Enterprise Saucer flew into the center of the cube, nearly cleaving it in two.

"Detonation in 5...4...3...2...1..." Data counted down and then...

 **BOOOOOOOOOOM!**

The Saucer exploded, creating a chain reaction that detonated the cube into a green fireball of Plasma and hull fragments. The upper atmosphere became showered with fragments from the ship that burnt up upon entering the planet's atmosphere. Like a brilliant meteor shower.

It was a bittersweet ending to the crew of the former Enterprise to see their ship die in blazing glory, but it was a welcome sight to see a Borg Cube turned to dust by a simple act.

"Helm, set a course for home, warp 7." Johnson ordered.

"Aye sir. course laid in."

"Engage."

In the darkness of space, the Melbourne shot forward and disappeared in a flash of light. Their next stop, was Earth.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Hey guys, sorry for the delay and the short length. Summer classes man.**

 **But anyway, shout out to my boy cmartinHFD, wishing him a happy birthday!**


	15. Chapter 15: Earth

**Author's Note from Panda: Hey ya'll. Sorry for the long gap. Had to focus more of my energy into my summer classes in order to pass. Got a B+, whoo! So as thanks for your patience, we've got an extra-long chapter on Naruto and Sakura arriving at Earth. Enjoy.**

* * *

It was a week later since the destruction of the Enterprise-D and its crew had since been shuttled aboard the largest personal transport ship that Star Fleet could send their way on such short notice, to be taken to Earth to await the completion of the Enterprise-E.

This meant that the vast majority of former Enterprise crewmen and their families, they had to stay in large open rooms filled with as many cots as could be found floor space.

It was by no means the worse living accommodations the crew had ever encountered, but it was a far cry from the personalized quarters the Enterprise crew had gotten accustomed to aboard their old vessel.

Higher ranking officers had of course been given more private quarters, but unfortunately for our two heroes, they did not yet fit that criteria.

Naruto awoke with a groan. Ensign Olivia's baby was crying again. As it had for every single night since they had boarded the Nebula class vessel. Naruto and Sakura didn't know the woman personally, she was a low ranking engineer, a survivor from the USS Adelphi, and a widow. The first few nights everyone was sympathetic to her plight. Sure there were loses all over, but Olivia was unique in being the only widow on board with an infant baby boy to look after.

Even so, after 5 nights in a row and countless suggestions offered by the more experienced parents, the general census was growing annoyed with that damn baby who just refused to let them get any sleep. Even Naruto had half a mind to drag the woman's cot out into some far off hallway and return to cheers from weary crewmen.

That's when he felt the love of his life fidget in her sleep. He looked down at the mess of pink leaning into his chest to use as a pillow.

 _'Sakura-chan...'_ He thought as he looked down further at her belly, where their own child was growing inside her.

Every day he sensed its tiny little bundle of energy growing and growing. He knew that someday those wails he heard would come from his own daughter, and as scary as the thought might be, it could be Sakura-chan who was left all alone to care for their little one.

He sighed as he carefully untangled himself from Sakura, being extra sure not to wake her. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant leaving Sakura alone in their bed.

Sakura fidgeted again, but thankfully remained asleep. Take one last moment to appreciate her absolutely adorable sleeping face, Naruto steeled himself and headed towards the sounds of the fussy baby.

"Excuse me." He whispered loud enough to grab the woman's attention.

"I'm trying to calm him down, alright, I'm sorry." The woman said automatically.

"I know. I wanna help." Naruto offered.

"How?" She asked, a little annoyed since she had gotten the least amount of sleep out of everyone.

"I figured I could walk around with him and give you some much needed sleep."

The woman's eyes went wide at the suggestion. "No, no, I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You don't have to, I want to. I got a little girl of my own on the way." Naruto pointed to Sakura, who Olivia could just barely see her belly bump through the sheets.

"Are...are you friends with Todd?" She asked, trying to fully gasp this blond man with the strange whisker tattoos motivations.

"I don't know him. You need your sleep and I'm willing to help you."

Olivia looked at the stranger like he was a man who fell from the moon or an angel sent by god, she couldn't decide which. But something about her eyes made her decide to trust him.

"Who are you?"

"Lt Naruto Uzumaki from the Enterprise."

"Ensign Olivia Wood, and thank you so much..." She replied, nearly on the verge of tears.

"Anything to help, Olivia." Naruto smiled softly.

Tentatively she handed over her baby boy to Naruto, who carefully placed his head on his elbow and felt the still fussing baby's full weight.

"He's a big boy. What's his name?" Naruto asked.

"Joshua..."

"That's a handsome name for a boy that I'll bet is gonna grow up to big and strong." Naruto said as he rocked the screaming Joshua like Crusher had been teaching him. The scent of the new man alarmed the baby, but Naruto kept up his rocking pace. Thank the Sage for his stamina.

"Hey little buddy..." Naruto said softly to the baby.

Joshua stopped his wailing for a second at the sound of the warm voice, but continued to fuss soon after. Naruto sighed.

"I should get going. I've got my comms on me. Just message me when you want him back." Naruto said as he started navigating his way through the sea of fold out beds.

"Shh...it's okay...no need to be scared..." Naruto whispered softly before he bumped into someone standing in his way.

"Excuse me." Naruto said before slipping past them to continue on to the nearest hallway.

"Where do you think you're going, Baka?" A familiar and pissed off voice replied.

Naruto gulped. He knew whose voice that was.

"Um...nothing?"

A strong hand on his shoulders forced him to turn around and face his lover Sakura. Who looked down at the bundle in his hands. "Really now? That seems like a whole bunch of something."

Naruto sighed. "I'm helping Olivia put by taking little Joshua for a walk around the ship. This way, he'll calm down and everyone can get some sleep."

At that, Sakura just smiled. "I know Baka. I could hear you all the way back at our cot." She tapped him on the head with her knuckles.

"So... you're not mad?"

"Not at this, you selfless idiot. I'm mad that I woke up and you weren't there in bed with me." She replied.

"Oh...sorry..."

He said while trying to keep Joshua from crying out again. "I just wanted you to get as much sleep as possible. Ya know?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes, of course he would have a perfectly justified reason for his actions.

"Come here you Baka. We should get him out in the halls before he disturbs anymore people." She said as she took the collar of his uniform in her hand to lead him out the door.

"Wait you wanna help, too?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Of course. I'm up and I wanna stretch my legs. Plus, it gets so damn crowded during the day. This'd be the perfect chance for some alone time." She smiled.

"And to give us some experience." Naruto added.

"That too." She said as the automatic doors closed behind them to leave the three of them alone in the maze of hallways inside the USS Melbourne. Sakura then draped her head over Naruto's right shoulder as the two walked aimlessly through the ship.

* * *

After an entire hour, Joshua was finally calm enough to sleep and the Tenchi duo could enjoy the rest of the walk in blissful silence. No words needed to be spoken. Only each others company was need.

Three hours passed until Naruto and Sakura came upon a walkway on the outer edge of the Melbourne with floor to ceiling window showing the millions of stars shooting past them.

"Amazing..." Sakura said in awe.

"It really is." Naruto said as he remembered wanting to show Sakura this view when he was out destroying those whatever fields to save the Enterprise and the Prometheus. Just the infinite vastness and mystery of space. Something he had gazed upon a thousand times from the safety of their home planet's surface, but never gotten to appreciate until now.

All of a sudden, the stars began to slow down, until they stopped completely, indicating that the ship had dropped out of warp.

"What the...oh my god..." Sakura breathed out as a beautiful blue planet came into view. Hundreds of Starfleet ships in its orbit and several stations.

"Is that...Earth?" Naruto asked.

"I think so...it's beautiful..."

"It looks just like Element." Naruto thought aloud.

"I think it looks bigger."

"You think so? Looks the same to me." Naruto said.

"I did size comparisons in the holodeck. Earth is about twice the size of Element."

"What? Damn." Naruto said.

"Language. Child." Sakura scolded.

Naruto looked down at the little bundle still sleeping in his arms.

"Oh right, sorry. But he's not old enough to remember swear words, is he?" Naruto defended.

"Doesn't matter. It's a bad habit to swear around children. And I'm telling you right now. The first time our daughter repeats a word that you said that is a cuss word, I'm belting you. You understand me?" Sakura said sternly.

"I understand." He said quickly before a thought occurred to him.

"Wait, but what if you swear in front of our daughter?" He asked.

"It's not going to happen. I'll make sure of that."

"But if it does, I'll be sure to spank you." Naruto smirked.

Sakura had to try hard to keep her composure. "Don't talk like that right now, please. It's been over a week since we did anything."

"And as soon as we land on the surface, we're finding the nearest bedroom with a door, where I'll pump you so full of my built up seed, our daughter will be born pregnant." He said without thinking about what he was saying.

"You IDIOT!" She hollered before she smacked him.

"Ow!" He shouted before being knocked forward. The sudden movement woke Joshua up and he started crying again.

"Now look what you did." Sakura huffed before she cradled little Joshua.

"Me? You're the one who freaked out and hit me." He pouted as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Take a moment to think about what you just said and then tell me if I was just or not." Sakura snapped as she tried to calm Joshua down.

"Yeah I know, that was seriously distasteful, but in my defense I am super tired." He said.

"You've gone without sleep longer than this so I don't want to hear it."

Sakura quickly calmed the poor baby down and he soon fell right back asleep. Leaving Naruto with his head held low.

"I'm sorry..."

Sakura just sighed. "Yes, I know you are...look, you really need to think before you say something like that."

"I try..." He said. Sakura looked at him and sighed. He was giving her his puppy dog eyes. The bastard. He knew that she couldn't stay mad at him when she saw those.

She gestured him forward and he laid his chin atop of her head with his arms wrapped around her front, their bodies melding together like a puzzle piece.

"All hands, this is Captain Johnson. We'll be arriving at Earth Space Dock in 10 minutes. Those from the USS Adelphi, USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise, prepare to disembark for reassignment." The captain announced.

"I guess that's us..." Sakura sighed.

"Yup. Probably should give this baby back to its mother before then." Naruto said.

"You think?" Sakura said sarcastically as they made their way back to the crew area.

* * *

Five minutes later they were reunited with the single mother who was still fast asleep even with all the commotion going on.

All around them families and friends were getting dressed and throwing together their luggage for departure. It was a testament to just how exhausted the poor woman was that she could sleep through all of that.

"Here. Take the baby, I'll wake her." Sakura said as she carefully handed the baby over to Naruto.

Naruto did as he was told while Sakura gently shook Olivia awake.

"Olivia..." Sakura said softly as she shook her awake.

"Huh? what?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, but we're about to dock." Sakura informed.

"Oh, thank you I..." The woman paused when she noticed something wasn't right.

"My baby, where is my baby?" She demanded, nearly scrambling out of her cot.

"Right here, sound asleep." Naruto informed.

Olivia looked over and recognized the man she had entrusted her baby too. All at once her worries evaporated into nothing.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. Naruto is my boyfriend." Sakura informed.

"Ah yes, I believe he mentioned you. I'm sorry, but could I have my Joshua?" She asked, keeping her eyes firmly glued to the bundle in Naruto's arms.

"Sure thing." Naruto said as he carefully handed him back to her.

Olivia felt a thousand pounds lighter when she held her baby again.

"Thank you again. Thank you so much." She said.

"No problem. Anytime you need a baby sitter, don't be afraid to look us up." Naruto smiled.

"Well I was going to stay with my mother-in-law for a few months. Then again we no doubt have some...funeral arrangements to take care of..." She choked out

"I'm so sorry for your loss..." Sakura said sincerely.

"Thank you. This small gesture your boyfriend did for me was more than I could ever ask for."

"Well, that's how he is. He puts everyone..." Sakura paused when she felt his lips on her cheek. "...before himself..."

Olivia gave a bittersweet smile. "He reminds me a lot of my Todd."

"Naruto? Can you get our stuff ready or is it all still in the sealing scrolls?" Sakura asked.

"Still sealed up, I think. Let me go check." He said before turning to leave.

Sakura nodded as Naruto left. "Can you tell me about him?"

As the two women talked, Naruto was given a few moments of reprieve to sort out his own thoughts. He didn't need to know anything more about Todd to know that he was a good man who died needlessly at the hands of the Borg. He was going to be a great father and a loving husband, but now he could only be a name on a memorial for Joshua to look upon and imagine his father for the hero that he was.

Naruto knew that pain all too well. It irked him how for all his training and skills he could only manage too best 5 out of 7 Borg drones. What chance did these other crewmen have? Compared to Naruto and Sakura, they were untrained civilians.

 _'I need to change that.'_ He thought. The safety of the crew was too important to be left up security guards trained how to shoot phasers and little else.

If this were the Leaf village there would be a standing force of highly trained ANBU placed on standby in every ship in Star Fleet. Just as there was a standing force of Jounin and Chunin in every minor village living under the Fire Daimyo's reign.

Satisfied that all their stuff was neatly sealed away, Naruto returned to his girlfriend and Olivia to see the two women embracing in a comforting hug.

"If you need ANYTHING, please give me a call." Sakura said as she pulled back from the hug enough to look Olivia in the eyes.

"Fine, but only if you accept my mother-in-law's home cooking as a reward. She'll insist on it and so will I." Olivia responded.

"After two months away from home, we could go for a nice home cooked meal." Sakura said.

"I don't think we know of any traditional Element dishes. But Patty can make a home cooked country style chicken like you wouldn't believe." Olivia said, earning a slight drool from Naruto from that description.

"What's this about food? What did you promise her? Darn it Sakura, you know my weakness is good food." Naruto mused.

"We're going to be going to her mother in-laws house for a home cooked meal as a way of thanking us." Sakura informed, then a thought occurred to her. "Where do you live?"

"We live in a small place called Roxbury in the State of New York. It's in the middle of the Catskill mountains."

"Is it like a rural village? Cause the two of us could use some time spent with some real trees." Naruto said.

"Yes, it is. Trees as far as the eye can see. Birch, Oak, Maple, Spruce, Pine, you name it, it's there." Olivia smiled as she packed her things.

"Sweet. Do you know where we're staying Sakura-chan? I don't know if we run there or take a shuttle or teleport..."

"I don't know for certain. I think we should check out this country that's like Element. What was it called? Japan?"

"We get to choose?" He asked, having not been paying attention during the massive orientation seminar they had a few days ago.

"Yup, since we don't have homes on Earth so we get to pick where we want."

"I don't know. Roxbury has a nice young lady who has offered us home cooked meals." Naruto said, earning a giggle from Olivia. "Where did Sally say her family was staying?"

"In Rochester Hills, Michigan. It's this state near by the New York state and looks like a mitten." Sakura remembered seeing a glimpse of the Earth map.

She giggled when she remembered how cute Sally looked as she enthusiastically pointed out her house by pointing at the back of her left hand.

"Well, let's look at what's available. I'm interested to see if Captain Picard's theory was correct." Sakura said.

"What theory?"

"That our race originally came from Earth."

"Oh that. Hard to say. Do these Japanians or whatever they're called speak English?" Naruto asked.

"The universal translators should take care of that." Olivia said.

"Attention all hands, this is the Captain. All Adelphi and Saratoga crewmen report to the docking tubes." Captain Johnson said.

"Well that's me. Be sure to call me once you get situated." Olivia said as she took her child in one hand and her bags in another.

"Will do. See you around. And good luck on your reassignment." Sakura said.

Olivia nodded as she joined the crowd of fellow Adelphi survivors. Soon she was surrounded and disappeared from sight.

"Attention Enterprise crew members. Report to Shuttle bay two and 3 as well as cargo transporter 5, 6 and 7." A man on the comms said.

"And that's us." Naruto said as he picked up both his and Sakura's scrolls that contained their bags.

"Can't wait to sleep in a proper bed. My back is killing me." Sakura groaned.

"I feel you." Naruto said as he snaked his arm around her shoulder so that the two of them wouldn't be separated.

"Well...lets go." Sakura smiled.

The two of them entered their designated shuttle and took off for the surface.

* * *

Upon arrival at Star Fleet headquarters, Naruto and Sakura were in awe of the structure before them.

It was at least 20 stories tall, made of pure white concrete and adorned with a wave of buttresses upon its top. In the center was a large golden Star Fleet symbol and at the base was an impeccably well-kept garden where Star Fleet personal walked across the pathways from one building to another.

In the background was San Francisco's historical monument; the Golden Gate Bridge. A bridge neither of them had seen anything like as far as the design and the size.

"Sweet Sage..." Sakura breathed out.

"Go big or go home." Naruto laughed at the sheer size of the buildings.

"No kid-HOLY!" Sakura exclaimed when she saw the actual city of San Francisco.

"A beauty isn't it?" Picard said behind them.

"It's unbelievable is what that is...how long did it take to make a city this big?" Sakura asked.

"A very long time. The city itself was established in the 1800's. for 600 years, it's been standing the test of time and preserved as best we can." Picard informed.

The two shinobi looked like children they were so flabbergasted.

"You could fit 10 Leaf villages in this city." Naruto stated.

"Would you believe that this isn't the biggest city on our world?" Picard said.

"It's not?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Oh no, far from it. You have Detroit Michigan, Cleveland Ohio, Paris France, London England, Moscow Russia, Tokyo Japan, Shang Hai China, those are just some of the world's biggest cities." Picard listed off.

"Japan..." Sakura muttered. She really wanted to go there. "What's Tokyo look like?"

"Well, it was once referred as the highest populated city in the world with a staggering 20 million people."

"20 million! The Leaf has maybe 100,000." Naruto exclaimed.

"You forgot Manhattan." Riker said behind them.

"Ah, too right." Picard nodded.

"Manhattan?" Sakura asked.

"Also known as New York City. It, too, has a long and... rather colorful history." Picard said.

"What about population as a whole?" Naruto asked.

"You mean the planet? Well, at its peak, Earth had a global population of over 11 billion." Riker said.

"Now it's around 9 billion." Picard added.

"9 billion? We only have...how many?" Naruto asked.

"Not even a billion..." Sakura gasped in awe.

"Well, that's not counting the entire population of the Federation." Riker commented.

"Ah, yes. With over 150 planets in the Federation, we should be looking at the Octillion range." Picard assumed.

"Sounds about right." Riker shrugged. "How would you like to govern that many people?" Riker asked Naruto.

"Me? I think I'd go crazy. It's bad enough trying to keep a squad of ANBU happy. I'm gonna be terrified when I become Hokage." Naruto admitted.

"Oh you'll do fine." Sakura waved off.

"You know, if Element ever becomes a recognized party in the Federation, someone would need to be your planet's leader and liaison to the Federation." Picard mused.

"And you'd want me to be that liaison?" Naruto asked.

"Well first things first. Your people need to create warp drive so the Federation can make first contact." Picard informed.

That was when Sakura remembered something that Tsunade wanted her to do. "I got a message from our Hokage to use some kind of frequency."

"Aaahhh..." Picard started. "That would be her private Starfleet communication line."

Sakura's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. "H-her...what...?"

"That frequency she gave you will allow you to talk to her over a secured channel anytime you please." Picard added.

"Why didn't she tell us this sooner?" Sakura all but shrieked.

"She did tell us though grandpa toad, remember?" Naruto reminded her.

"Why didn't she tell him to tell us?" Sakura countered.

"That I don't know."

"Well anyway, this discovery will have to wait." Picard interrupted. "We need to discuss your living arrangements."

"Oh, well we figured we'd find a place in Japan and-"

"No." Picard interrupted Sakura. "Starfleet wants you to take up residency either with me or near me."

"And where do you live?" Sakura asked.

"A small village in La Barre France, my family's vineyard. And I would advise the two of you to take it easy on our stores, lest we want another night like last time."

"Like what night?" Sakura asked.

Picard didn't say a single word as he looked down at her belly which was finally starting to show signs of a bump.

"I think you know." Picard said seriously.

"Aw, man...he's talking about the night we got slammed..." Naruto groaned.

Sakura went wide eyed when she remembered that night and a blush grew on her cheeks.

"Well what is the worse that'll happen? It's not like I'll get pregnant." Naruto joked.

Picard wasn't amused. "You know, there are times I wonder how you can function. Then I remember your bravery and your combat skills."

"Um...thank you?" Naruto said, unsure if he was being complimented or not.

"Anyway, there is an apartment complex in the village you can stay at or you can stay in my family's house. It's up to you." Picard offered.

"Do you have enough room for us?" Sakura asked.

"More than enough. But I'm sure my brother won't have any shenanigans in the bedroom. They have a 12-year-old son after all." Picard said seriously.

"Your brother's family lives there?" Sakura asked.

"Yes...since I left to join Starfleet, my brother took over running the Vineyard."

"Huh. Well it'd be interesting to meet your brother. But I think Sakura and me would like our privacy. I don't know, what do you want Picard?" Naruto asked.

"Whatever makes you comfortable."

"Well like Naruto said. We'd like our privacy, but you being our client, whatever makes you feel safest comes first." Sakura said.

"I think your forgetting that we're on Earth where we have over 100 ships in orbit plus hundreds more being built here." Riker pointed out.

"At ease, number one. They are concerned for their captain and rightfully so. Just because we're here on Earth doesn't mean there aren't any dangers here as well." He then turned to his body guards. "If privacy is what you'd like, the apartment is just a few minutes away from me. I'll be fine with my family."

"Alright, you've still got my special kunai and that tattoo seal, right?" Naruto asked.

Picard nodded. " that reminds me lieutenant. You still got to teach me how to use chakra."

"Oh right. Well perhaps we can visit on weekends and teach you then." Naruto offered.

"I look forward to it." Picard said before their shuttle arrived.

"So does Star Fleet have an apartment set up for us, or what?" Naruto asked.

"Apartments here already come furnished, complete with a standard issue matter replicator and communications terminal." Picard informed.

"All the amenities of home." Naruto chuckled.

"Right you are. Now, let us depart." Picard said as he made his way to their shuttle.

"Are you joining us Riker or are you living elsewhere?" Naruto asked.

"I live in Alaska, so I won't be joining you. Mind you, Starfleet has scheduled a meeting with the Enterprise senior staff in a week. That means you two will be going as well." Riker said.

"Ah, right you are number one. I nearly forgot." Picard said.

"Staff meeting? What about?" Naruto asked, his curiosity being peaked.

"In regards to the new features and systems the Enterprise E has." Riker said.

"Oh, because I actually had a program I'd like to suggest." Naruto said.

"Such as?" Picard asked.

"A task force, similar to my village's ANBU ninjas. An elite and highly trained strike team to deal with threats to the ship that our traditional security force is under equipped and under trained to handle."

"That would be very helpful against the Borg, Captain." Riker agreed.

"Hmm...I agree. You can bring it up at the meeting." Picard said.

"Seriously? You approve?"

"Yes, I agree that my security forces need something more to bring to the table in regards to my ships internal defense and ground defense. We lost too many people this last battle while you were essentially a one-man army. With your training, you ran circles around my men as if they were nothing more than militia from our histories past. So, I fully support your proposal, but the admirals in Starfleet need to agree as well." Picard said.

"Why would they matter? Isn't it for your ship?"

"Because they are the ones who have the final say. I merely command the ship, not own it. My security officers are still members of Starfleet and their training comes from Starfleet Academy, which is where you'll most likely have to train them."

"I see. Very well. Anything I need to prepare for the proposal?"

"Just make sure you know exactly what to say and what all you want to propose for their training." Picard said.

"Don't worry, I'll help you get prepared." Sakura said.

"Alright, I think we've dawdled enough." Picard said as he made his way to the shuttle, eager to get home.

"See you in a week, Riker." Naruto waved before stepping aboard the shuttle.

"Likewise." Riker said before making his way to his own shuttle.

Picard's shuttle took off and they were on their way. The views the Shinobi saw were absolutely breathtaking. Mountains and valleys and hills all appeared and disappeared over the horizon beneath them. Forests bigger than their entire country of Fire and lakes wider than all the Great Shinobi Villages put together pass beneath them as well. It was a never ending marvel.

Soon they made their way over China, where a giant wall started coming into view. It was larger than any structure they had ever seen.

"Woah...I've never seen a wall that big..." Sakura said in awe.

"That, is the great wall of China." Picard said.

"Amazing. When was this built?" Sakura asked.

"Around 200 BC, that's over 2500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. It spans over 13,000 miles in length and was originally built to protect the country of China from their enemies." Picard said.

He then pointed out to several other walls around it. "Starting back in the 5th Century BC going all the way to the 17th Century AD, many walls were constructed and intersected with one another, making this system of walls the most elaborate and ancient of them all."

"Wow..." Sakura said, ever the kind of book worm who would find this fascinating. Although even Naruto had to admit that he found it intriguing.

Picard smiled slightly. "If you want, you can have access to my family's library. There, you can read up everything in regards to Earth's history."

"And now you'll never get rid of her." Naruto sighed as Sakura lit up like a thousand-watt lightbulb.

"Then perhaps." Picard started as he pulled out a book from his bag. "You'd like to read this for the time being." The book cover read, 'The History of War Volume 1: The World Wars.'

Before Sakura could grab it, she was stunned when Naruto got a hold of it first.

"Naruto?" She asked.

"I want to learn more about this..." He said in awe.

"Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?" Sakura said, never knowing Naruto to be one who enjoys reading.

"This is exactly what I've been wanting to read about. Maybe this can give me more insight about Earth's past wars and how we stack up to them."

Sakura just sighed. "Ever the soldier, aren't you?"

"If I've gotta convince Earthlings to back my task force, knowing some of their history would be helpful wouldn't it?" Naruto pointed out.

"True. Fair point." Sakura shrugged.

"That book contains many of the wars in recent Earth history, dating back to the Revolutionary War in 1776 to World War 3 in 2048." Picard informed.

"Wow, you guys had only three world wars?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but they were very bloody wars..." Picard said grimly.

"How so?" Sakura asked.

"I won't spoil it for you. Read the book and you'll see why."

"Will do." Naruto said as he flipped open the book to page 1. The title of the first chapter read; 'The Revolutionary War Part 1 of 5.'

As Naruto read, Sakura could only look on in wonder. She had never seen him read a book in her life that wasn't a comic book.

"This is amazing..." Naruto said as he turned the page.

"What's it say?" Sakura asked as she leaned over.

"It says here that the war started when the penal colony in North America declared themselves as their own nation against the King of England. Outraged by the over taxation of their colony, they decided to write a declaration of independence, stating that they were their own country and with their own laws. This enraged the King and that was when he declared war on the colonies of North America, killing anyone who opposed the King's rule..."

"Wow..." Sakura said in awe. At this point, she snuggled into Naruto's lap so she could read as well.

As time went on, they eventually came to the end of that chapter and were about to start on the next that was titled; 'World War 1: Chemical Warfare' When the shuttle touched down.

"Same some for later I suppose." Sakura said as she sat back up.

"That blew the first two Shinobi World Wars out of the water. The casualties alone were more than we ever had." Naruto said as he sat up to stretch his back.

"Even our 4th Shinobi World War only had a casualty rate of 70,000." Sakura added.

"Yes...it's safe to say that our wars yielded far higher casualty rates." Picard said grimly as he picked up his bags.

The two shinobi kept quiet after that, feeling the need to change to a lighter subject.

"So Picard, why don't you show us around your house?" Naruto suggested.

"With pleasure." Picard said as they stepped out of the shuttle and got their first look at the Picard house. It was huge, old, and beautiful. A two story traditional French villa sitting atop a small hill where acres of grape vines grew with impunity.

"You live here...?" Sakura asked in awe.

"I grew up here. And it serves as a place to rest my head between deployments." Picard answered.

"It's a very nice place. How long has it been here?"

"Oh...a very long time." Picard said fondly. "It's been in my family for 13 generations."

Naruto whistled. "Dang. That's impressive."

As the trio made their way up the road, they could hear rustling in the bushes, which put the Shinobi on high alert.

"Whoever you are, I can hear you so just come out." Picard called before stopping on the road. Then, a young boy came out of the bushes and Picard put his hands up. "Oh no. A highwayman." He said sarcastically.

"A what?" The boy asked.

"A highwayman. A robber who steals from travelers. But, there hasn't been a report of any in this area for centuries."

"I'm not a robber." The boy replied.

"Well, thank god for that." Picard said before lowering his hands.

They started walking again with the boy trailing along.

"I know you." He said.

"Then you have me at a disadvantage." Picard replied.

"You're...you're my nephew. Jean Luc." The boy said, making Sakura giggle a bit.

"Then that would make you my uncle Rene." Picard played along.

"No I'm not. It's the other way around." Rene corrected.

"A shame...I kinda like it that way." Picard joked.

"You're weird, Uncle Jean." The boy decided.

"Why have you been away for so long?" Rene asked.

"Starfleet keeps me busy." Picard answered.

"Father says you don't like it here."

"I'm sure he misunderstood."

"No, he told me himself."

Picard sighed. "Well, Robert and I... I guess it's time to change all of that."

"You don't seem so arro...arro..."

"Arrogant?" Picard asked.

"Yes, arrogant. What does that mean, arrogant son-of-a-"

"Let's, just put that aside for now." Picard interrupted. Naruto just coughed while Sakura looked away to appreciate the view.

Rene ran off and called to his mother, announcing Picard's arrival.

"Cute kid." Sakura commented.

"He looks so much like Robert did at that age..." Picard reminisced fondly.

They were interrupted when a woman came to greet them.

"Jean Luc. It's so good to see you again." The woman said enthusiastically.

"Felecia. It's been too long..." Picard said before the two of them hugged briefly. "Where's Robert?"

"Where else? Tending to his vines as usual." Felecia smiled before looking at the other two people with him in Starfleet Uniforms. "And who might you be?"

"Ah, they are my assigned bodyguards. Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno." Picard introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you." Felecia greeted.

"Likewise." Sakura said as she and Naruto bowed.

"I wonder...are you two anyway related to the Haruno and Uzumaki clan in Nagawa Japan?" Felecia asked.

Sakura and Naruto's eyes went wide. "W-what did you say?" Sakura asked.

"Well, your last names match that of two of the most powerful clans in Japan so I assumed you were related."

"How do you know about the two most powerful clans in Japan?" Sakura asked.

"I've been there several times." Felecia said.

 _'So there may be some validity to my theory after all...'_ Picard mused to himself.

"Do the Uzumakis have red hair?" Naruto asked.

"A lot of the ones I've seen do. Either red or orange." Felecia answered.

"Orange hair?" He asked.

"Nagato had orange hair if you remember." Sakura reminded him.

"No. He had red hair. You're thinking of his deceased friend Yahiko. He made his Paths of Pain in his image." Naruto corrected.

"Oh, right." Sakura said sheepishly. "What about the Haruno's?"

"Um...well, pink hair is common with them, but they have been known to have black hair on occasions. Why?"

"Pink hair runs in my father's side." Sakura gasped.

"And red in my mothers." Naruto gasped as well.

"Aren't you two from Earth?" Felecia asked.

"No, we're...um..." Now Sakura didn't know what to say. It was starting to look like Picard's theory was correct. So, she didn't exactly know which to call home now.

"They are from the planet Element near the Romulan Neutral Zone." Picard answered for them.

"What? But that planet is centuries away from developing warp travel. Having them here would be illegal." Felecia gasped.

"It was Starfleet's idea. They hired them on as my personal bodyguards after...my encounter with the Borg." Picard informed.

"You fought the Borg?!" Rene exclaimed.

"Yes Rene. Your father and I already explained this to you." Felecia reminded him.

The boy however ignored his mother in favor of his now incredibly cool uncle.

"What was it like? Were you scared? Did you destroy a lot of them?" Rene asked in rapid fire.

Picard didn't answer as the traumatizing memories returned to him.

Sensing their ward's uneasiness, the bodyguards stepped in.

"Ehh, Picard didn't really fight the Borg. On a ship sure, but I fought them head on." Naruto bragged.

"Woah, no way!" Rene beamed.

"Yes way. I can tell you all about it, come on." Naruto said as he led Rene away, leaving Picard alone with the women.

"You've got yourself a one of a kind bodyguard there." Felecia said.

"Yes he does...Naruto is an amazing man." Sakura said lovingly.

Felecia looked over in surprise at the woman and her loving tone of voice. She then looked down and noticed her bump.

"Can I assume that is Naruto's baby?" Felecia mused.

Sakura smiled as she looked down at her belly and rubbed it. "Yes, she is..."

"You allow your bodyguards to fornicate with one another? You've grown lax, Jean." Felecia teased.

"It wasn't exactly what I had expected to happen. It was my understanding that they didn't have feelings for one another. But if there was one thing that I learned rather quickly is that Elementians will constantly surprise you." Picard said.

"We...kinda got drunk after Naruto saved the ship from a Romulan attack and... well..." Sakura said nervously.

"Drunk? Off of what?" Felecia asked.

"I gave them a bottle of the old vintage." Picard sighed.

Felecia just giggled. "I completely understand. That's how I got my Rene." She said, getting Sakura to shuffle her feet at the woman's bold statement.

"Although we were trying to have a baby." She added.

"Well, that's not how I got pregnant..." Sakura started.

"We were trapped in an aceton field and Naruto chose to put himself out there to destroy them one by one. But, the attack he was using was destroying his suit slowly but surely to the point where he couldn't return under the power of the suit." Picard added.

"My God..." Felecia held her hand over her mouth.

"Out of desperation...and fear of losing my sunshine...I released a technique that acts as a birth control and got myself pregnant from what was left of his seed...I couldn't bear the thought of not having Naruto in my life, so I decided that I would carry on his legacy through his child..." Sakura said softly.

' _You're sunshine huh…?'_ Felecia thought sweetly. What a rare thing it was to find such deep and heartfelt true love these days.

Then a vein popped up on Sakura's forehead. "But then the dunce remembers the one technique that would save his dumbass..." She growled.

Felecia was about to gasp in shock, but Sakura's change in tone made her sweat dropped.

Sakura then sighed. "He had me thinking that he was going to die, but...honestly...I don't regret anything."

"Well, congratulations, but...what is a technique?"

"Oh, well, you see, Naruto and I are ninja's on Element. So, we use specific techniques and jutsu's to aid us in both combative and non-combative situations. The jutsu I was using is a form of contraceptive, which traps a male's sperm inside a chakra bubble until the cells die. It's the most effective form of birth control there is." Sakura said, speaking as she was talking to another doctor.

"Chakra...like...chi? Or something like that?" Felecia asked, thinking she heard about chakra from yoga.

"Just think of it as magic." Sakura sighed.

"Could you show me?" Felecia asked.

"Sure thing." Sakura said as she held up her hand glowing with mystic palm chakra. _'I'm gonna have to do this all across the universe, aren't I?'_

Then, something happened that Sakura wasn't expecting. Her mystic palm chakra flickered before fading and she felt extremely exhausted.

"Ms. Haruno?" Picard asked in worry as he stood next to her.

"I... I feel...so weak..." Sakura puffed as she tried desperately to stay awake. She felt like all her energy had been sapped from her.

"Mr. Uzumaki! Front and center!" Picard called out.

One second later, Naruto teleported back to Picard's side with Rene on tow.

"Tend to Sakura. Somethings wrong." Picard said seriously.

Naruto looked at his love and saw her kneeling down, trying desperately to catch her breath.

"She's got chakra exhaustion. What the heck was she doing?" He asked as he started transferring some of his own chakra into her system to replenish her dangerously low chakra levels.

"All I did...was...show them...my mystic...palm...for a moment..." Sakura gasped breathlessly.

"That...shouldn't happen with you..." Naruto said in shock.

 _ **'Kit...her chakra is being consumed at a massive rate.'**_ Kurama informed.

 _'Shit, what do I do?'_ Naruto thought as he pumped more chakra into her system.

' _ **If I were to make a guess, the source is your Kit.'**_

 _'So what do I do?'_ Naruto repeated.

 _ **'Have her rest. She can't use her chakra anymore until after your Kit is born. For now, just give her a little bit to get her moving.'**_

 _'Right...'_ Naruto thought. His chakra steadily flowing through into her body. A few minutes of constant transferring later, Sakura began to feel better.

"That's better. What happened to me?" Sakura wondered.

"Kurama says that the baby is draining your chakra. Also that you shouldn't use your chakra anymore." Naruto said.

"W-what...? But I..."

"It's not open for debate, Sakura-chan. You need to rest." Naruto said sternly.

"I agree." Picard added. "And if Dr. Crusher was here, she'd say the same."

Sakura simply hung her head. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"Kurama said that the same thing happened with my mom so its natural. But then again, she had Kurama to keep her level."

"I don't suppose you could transfer Kurama over to me for a while?" Sakura asked, already knowing the answer. To seal Kurama inside Sakura would involve unsealing him from Naruto, which would kill the man.

That was unacceptable in Sakura's book.

"Not without killing me, you know that."

"I know..." Sakura sighed.

Naruto just rubbed her shoulders. "I know how much you hate feeling helpless..." He said.

"More than you'll ever know..."

"Maybe so, but I'll say this, we're still the Tenchi duo, right? Do you remember that mission we had up in the mountains during the rainy season?"

"The one with the fat trade baron who liked to pick his nose?" Sakura replied.

"That's the one. We were on stake out to catch that guy doing some 'evidence of corruption' or whatever and I didn't listen to you about staying dry during the long hours we sat hiding in the trees. So by day three I was sick as a dog."

Sakura couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah. Your sneezes almost got us caught a few times. Until I pulled rank as the medic and sidelined you."

"Yup, and in between doing all the stake out shifts, you still found time to nurse me back to health. When I was helpless, you became my strength." Naruto praised.

"And when we got back to the village you insisted that I take your share of the reward money."

"And you blatantly refused. Despite having to literally carry me back home, you still called the mission a team effort." Naruto smiled. "Now let me be your strength."

"Sigh. I guess I'll have too now...that just means you're on diaper duty for the first two weeks after she's born." Sakura smirked.

"Heck no. It's still a 'team effort.'" He smirked back.

"Always gotta be the difficult one, huh?"

"Only cause you make it so much fun." He said as he kissed her on the nose.

"Awww...that's so sweet...reminds me of when me and Robert were younger." Felecia gushed.

"Yes, those two have become the newest power couple of my ship ever since their arrival." Picard said.

"I believe it." Felecia replied.

"Yes, truth be told they have brought quite a lot of life back into the crew. Certainly by the way they have shaken things up."

"That is...up until the ship was destroyed..." Picard added sadly.

"I heard about that on the news. No Captain could ask for a better send off. Taking out an entire Borg Cube and saving God knows how many lives..."

"It was a bittersweet moment...but the majority of my crew survived. I wish I could say the same about the Adelphi...She was the first to succumb to assimilation."

"You can't save them all. You told me that once." Felecia reminded him.

"Yes, I know."

The two adults just stood together in silence. Letting the sounds of swaying tree leaves fill the gaps.

"So where is my brother?" Picard asked.

"Out in the Vineyard tending to some vines. Shall I send for him?"

"No that's quite alright. I'll go see him." Picard said before walking off.

* * *

The Enterprise Captain seamlessly navigated his way through the house to the backyard vineyard, there he was fortunate enough to come across a man tending to the newly planted grape vines with a hand held pair of shears.

Picard walked down the path leading to the vine groves where he eventually caught up with an older man who was sitting on the ground, tending to a vine that had some sickly looking grapes. Sensing that someone was behind him, he looked over his shoulder briefly to see that it was his younger brother. He scowled before turning back to his vine.

"So... you finally made it." Robert said.

"It's good to see you." Picard responded.

"You shuttle in from the village?" Robert asked.

"Oh, no. It was such a nice day that I decided to walk." Picard replied.

"You tired?"

"No, I'm fine. I got to meet Rene and Felecia."

Robert just nodded. "Well, you know where everything is. This is your home. I must...cure this sick vine."

No words were left to be said and Picard walked back, feeling dejected that his brother still held a grudge against him.

* * *

Later that evening, the Picard family along with Naruto and Sakura sat down to a nice, home cooked meal.

"So... you two are from Element I hear." Robert spoke.

"Yes sir." Sakura replied as she ate her cucumber sandwiches.

"It's believed that their race originated from Earth and with the recent discovery Felecia made, that theory may be valid." Picard said.

"I see. So, your Starfleet might not be breaking any rules at all...having them here with you." Robert said simply before he was handed a bowl of piping hot beef stew.

"Thank you." Naruto said as he was handed his own bowl of beef stew. "This food is delicious Mrs. Picard."

"Thank you." Felecia smiled.

"Yes, as good as ever. Better than that replicator junk." Robert said.

"I think you could do with a replicator." Picard countered.

"This is a conversation we've had before. I agree that we should get one as an added convenience." Felecia said.

"The world is already too convenient as it is." Robert snapped. "All this...wretched technology. How quickly one's values disappear for a minor convenience."

Naruto, Sakura, and Rene kept their mouths shut. Feeling that this wasn't a conversation worth butting into.

"This is a very old argument..." Picard said dryly.

"Father knew what was right. This damned technology is what's wrong with this world."

Picard just sighed as he was handed a glass of wine.

Everyone took a taste of their wine, Picard swishing it around in his mouth for a moment, knowing the finer things about wine.

"46?" Picard asked.

"47." Robert corrected. "That synthetic stuff has deluded your palate. What do you call it? Sythahol?" He spat venomously.

"I believe synthahol allows you to appreciate the real thing." Picard countered.

"Still tastes good to me." Naruto said as he took another sip.

"Not as strong as the one you gave us though." Sakura said.

"The one I gave you was a 2298. Much older vintage." Picard reminded her.

"I see someone from off world as an appreciation for fine wine." Robert commented.

"Well my master was no stranger to alcohol. And after attending one too many medical conferences with her, neither am I." Sakura said.

"You're a doctor I take it? Not one of those technologically dependent ones I hope." Robert said.

"Oh no. I was traditionally trained as well as trained in medical jutsu." Sakura said as she demonstrated her glowing hand once more.

"Sakura, stop. Don't you remember what happened earlier?" Picard reminded her.

Sakura didn't answer, for she was immediately overcome with fatigue.

"Dammit..." Naruto sighed as he went to her side and worked on replenishing her chakra. "What did I just say?" Naruto scolded.

"Shut up...I forgot okay..." She pouted.

Naruto sighed. "I think we better turn in for the night." Then he remembered something when he saw the glass of wine in front of her. "You know you're not supposed to be drinking."

Sakura went pale for a moment. "Oops..."

"Come on you. We're taking a nice hot bath and then a good night's sleep. Do you need us for anything tomorrow, Captain?"

"I don't believe so. Do you know where you're going?" Picard asked.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "Not a clue..." He admitted, giving a nervous chuckle. The rest of the adults dead panned.

"How do these two tie their shoes in the morning?" Felecia asked her husband.

"Hey...I'm not an... never mind..." Sakura sighed. She had been making a lot of dumb mistakes lately.

"It's the only high-rise in the village. It's easy to spot since its newer than the rest of the buildings." Robert pointed out for them.

"And your apartment has been chosen. Room 707. Just tell the receptionist that you are with Star Fleet." Picard added.

"Alright, thank you." Sakura said as Naruto helped her to her feet. "Sorry to eat and run."

"That's quite alright. You're welcome here anytime you wish." Felecia said.

"Thank you. We will most likely return on the weekends to give Picard Chakra training. If you need anything, just give us a call." Naruto said.

"Will do." Picard smiled slightly.

* * *

Naruto then led Sakura outside the house and into the street, opting to walk, rather than sprint or leap from rooftop to rooftop. He figured that the fresh air would do them some good.

"I think having your child is making me stupider." Sakura said out of the blue.

"Good, the transformation is almost complete." Naruto smirked.

"You dick." Sakura said playfully

"You pussy. Together, we make baby." He grunted like a Neanderthal.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "That reminds me...you're riding me like a horse when we get there." She smirked.

"As you command, M'Lady." He said as he held her close.

They walked together through the cobblestone streets, enjoying the adorable little small town with its shops and cafes. They finally reached the most out of place building of them all, a 7 story apartment complex designed like a glass cylinder.

"Unusual for a town like this." Sakura mused.

"Definitely sticks out like a sore thumb." Naruto added.

They made their way inside and were greeted by one of the apartment staff.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Hi, we're here for the Star Fleet apartment." Naruto replied.

"Names and ranks please."

"Lieutenant Jr Grade Sakura Haruno and Lieutenant Jr Grade Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura replied.

The lady brought them up on the computer and handed them their key. "Keep it quiet after 2200 hours and enjoy your stay."

"No promises." Naruto smirked as he took the key and led Sakura to the elevator.

They arrived shortly afterwards in their new apartment which looked strikingly similar to their quarters on the Enterprise. Except the bedroom was a lot larger and had a luxurious bathroom offset from it.

Naruto had to whistle again. "Swanky."

"Yea, not bad." Sakura agreed before she set down her things and got onto the terminal.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

Sakura held up a finger. "Computer. Open hailing frequency 44819.7 authorization Sakura Bravo Echo 91."

"CONNECTION ESTABLISHED." The computer responded. A sort of dialing tone was heard for a couple of minutes before the screen came to life.

"Commander Senju here." Tsunade said on the other line, wearing what seemed like a much older Starfleet uniform.

"Commander?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade's eyes went wide with joy. "Sakura! Wow, its soo good to hear from you again!"

"It's great to see you too." Sakura gushed, her emotions overflowing after seeing her surrogate mother again after months.

"So what's going on? Day off or something?" Tsunade asked.

"Hey Granny!" Naruto exclaimed with joy.

"And there's my favorite knucklehead. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. Why didn't you tell us you had a direct line to contact you from?" Naruto asked.

"Honestly it didn't come to mind until Fukasaku reminded me."

"Old age catching up with you?" Sakura teased.

Tsunade just grew a tick mark on her head. "You're lucky you're out in space right now..."

"She has gotten plenty bold." Naruto said as he kissed Sakura on the side of the head.

Tsunade's eyes went wide. She had expected Sakura to punch his lights out, but instead she kissed him back.

"Oh...My...God..."

The two looked back at the Senju on the monitor.

"Oh right, we didn't tell you yet." Naruto realized.

"When did this happen...?" Tsunade asked, joy welling up.

"About a day after we set out." Sakura smiled.

"Wait, weren't you two seeing other people when you left?" Tsunade realized.

"Turns out, Naruto broke up with Hinata months ago." Sakura said.

"It's true. It didn't work out with us." Naruto confirmed.

"And Sakura? I can't imagine Naruto would be okay with you cheating on Sasuke."

"I... wrote him a letter before I left saying that I was leaving him because of this mission..." Sakura admitted.

"Well that's alright then." Tsunade waved aside. "So tell me what has been going on?"

"Well first off, we've got one more piece of shocking information to tell you." Naruto said.

"More like an announcement." Sakura corrected.

"Oh really? You getting married or something?" Tsunade teased before she took a sip of sake.

"Nope. We skipped that step." Naruto said as he started to rub Sakura's belly.

Tsunade spit her sake out when she realized what they were talking about. "No... Sakura...are you really...?"

Sakura just smiled. It was a rare treat when she could make her mentor so flabbergasted. "Believe it."

The camera panned down and Tsunade saw her belly bump. Tsunade's eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets.

"H-how far along...?" Tsunade stammered.

"How long have we been gone?" Naruto asked.

"WHAT?!" Tsunade shrieked in shock. "You got knocked up when your mission started?!"

"No!" Naruto defended. "It was a week into the mission."

"A... week...? Why...?" Tsunade gasped.

"That's a long story." Sakura said in a more somber tone.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, so by all means, share."

Sakura spent the next 10 minutes giving Tsunade the details of how she got pregnant and why. Needless to say, Tsunade was stunned that Sakura would do something so drastic like that, but at the same time, was proud of her for making such a big sacrifice to keep the memory of her comrade and love alive.

"That was extremely reckless of you, Naruto." Tsunade scolded.

"It seemed like the only option available to me. Either I would die out in space or I would die freeing the ship from the whatever fields." He defended.

"Aceton field." Sakura corrected.

"And Sakura...don't think you're out of the woods either." Tsunade said just as sternly.

Sakura gulped, she knew that tone of voice.

"What you did was just as reckless as what Naruto did. I trained you better than that."

"I know; I wasn't thinking clearly. But the week I had been with Naruto was one of the happiest weeks I've had in a long time. I felt like I had gotten my sunshine back and I couldn't stand to lose it again."

"I'm not done." Tsunade said. "What you did was reckless...but it was one of the most admirable, brave and sweetest things any Kunoichi could have done. For that, I'm very proud of you."

"Lady Tsunade..." Sakura gushed, like she was Lee and Tsunade was Guy.

"This child of yours will be the true symbol of your love you two. Marriage is nothing more than a pair of rings and a piece of paper. But a child...so long as you care for it, nurture it and watch it grow, it will never die and neither will your love for one another." Tsunade smiled.

The loving couple just smiled at the beautiful advice their Hokage had given them.

"We will." Naruto said.

"I just really wish you kids had waited until you returned home to have your baby."

"W-well...we would have..." Sakura stammered.

"Yes, I know. So, that means I'm gonna be the first to see the little one. Do you know what it's going to be like?"

"We're going to have a girl." Sakura smiled.

"I've got no one else I can tell about this!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"Well...that's the thing..." Sakura started, making Tsunade raise an eyebrow. "We discovered that there is a country on Earth that has an Uzumaki and Haruno clan here."

"As well as a Senju, Yamanaka, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Sarutobi, Uchiha, and pretty much all of them. Yes, I'm aware." Tsunade stated, making the two go bug eyed.

"W-what?! H-how..."

"Did I know? Simple. I had the same theory you two have, but I could never prove it. If you two can prove it then by all means, do so. This would ultimately eradicate the Prime directive from interfering with our relationship with the Federation."

"We'll work on it. We're actually stationed on Earth right now." Naruto said.

"Wait, you're on Earth? Why are you on Earth?" Tsunade asked in confusion.

"The Enterprise was destroyed." Naruto answered.

"...come again...?" Tsunade asked in shock. She was hoping she didn't hear that right.

"Um...the Enterprise got destroyed while we were protecting a Klingon Outpost." Sakura informed.

Tsunade let loose a shaky sigh. _'Just like Enterprise C...'_ She thought sadly. "Did everyone make it out alive at least?"

"Most of them. We lost a few to the Tolmeekian ships and the Borg Cube." Naruto grimly reported.

"Dear god...is Captain Picard still alive?"

"He is, we just dropped him off at his house." Sakura said.

"Good..." Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief.

This tone of voice made Sakura grow curious. "You seem very interested in Picard's well being." She smirked.

"Well of course. He is our client that you have to keep safe."

"Sure...you sound VERY concerned for our client." She mused.

Tsunade blushed when she realized what Sakura was talking about.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh I think you do." Sakura said with a smirk that Ino would be so proud of.

"Oh no... it's not like that. Besides...it's not like it would do either of us any good in the long run." Tsunade sighed sadly.

Now Sakura was starting to get concerned. "Why?"

Tsunade sighed. "The one thing I've always wanted was a family which is exactly what Jean Luc wants...and I can't give him that. I'm too old to provide children and I'm too old to raise them."

"I'm...sure there is a way." Naruto said hopefully.

"There is actually." Sakura said.

"How?" Tsunade asked.

"In vitro fertilization." Sakura replied.

"In vitro? I don't think that would work for me."

"Sure it would."

"Sakura...you know as well as anyone else that I'm an alcoholic. I can't be pregnant and not touch the liquor. I just don't have it in me to do any of that."

"Wait, hold on, back up. Can we go back to why you have such a huge crush on our starship captain?" Naruto requested.

"I never said I did. You just assume I do." Tsunade said.

"Well now you're talking about regretting not being able to have babies. What are we supposed to think?" Naruto rebutted.

"That's been an old thing with her, Naruto. It's nothing new." Sakura countered.

Tsunade felt her blood pressure rising when Sakura mentioned old.

Then Sakura felt a wave of nausea hit her like a ton of bricks and she gagged.

"Ugh...uh...b-be right back..." Sakura said before bolting to the bathroom, making Tsunade raise a quizzical eyebrow.

"She's still dealing with nausea? How long has that been going on?"

"Maybe a month. Honestly these days have been blending together so it's hard to keep track." Naruto admitted.

"Hmm...have her get checked out, make sure everything is okay. If she argues, tell her it's an order, both has your Hokage and as a Commander of Starfleet." Tsunade said firmly.

"Will do." Naruto said. "And is it normal for the baby to be sapping so much of her chakra? She can't even activate her mystic palm technique without collapsing."

"Yes, that's normal. Kurenai and Shizune went through the same thing."

"Oh good. Because she accidentally did it twice today."

"Make her rest for a while and if she's not on maternity leave yet then have Picard put her on it."

"She's been on maternity leave."

"Okay good. All she needs to do now is rest. If she gives you a hard time, don't back down. I know just as well as you do on how stubborn she can be."

"Oh trust me, I know." Naruto smirked.

"Right, now comes a serious question...have you picked out a ring for her? Because I expect you two to be married before that child is born."

"What happened to marriage just being a bunch of rings and a piece of paper?" Naruto asked.

"That was before I thought about how beautiful Sakura would look in a white dress." Tsunade countered.

Naruto sighed. "I planned on it, I'm just waiting for the right moment..."

"That's exactly what I want to hear, and we'll host a second wedding for you two when you get back."

"I think Sakura would love that." Naruto said.

"So would everyone else I'm sure."

"Yeah..." Naruto said.

"So how are you holding up?" Tsunade asked.

"Me? I'm... I'm kind of scared, ya know?" He admitted.

"Of what?" Tsunade asked, slightly surprised that the normally fearless Naruto Uzumaki is scared.

"Sakura...and her being pregnant..."

"I see...well, it's normal for a first time parent to be scared."

"Like...we're constantly surrounded by danger. Every day we come across something new. I just want to send her back to the Leaf where she'll be safe, while at the same time I want to keep her close to me at all times. I love her so much and I'm so scared that I'm going to screw up our baby and she'll hate me for it." He said with his hair in his hands.

"The more you fear about screwing up, the higher the chance that you will." Tsunade said simply.

"That just makes me feel even more afraid." He said.

"Listen...it's not a matter of if you will screw up, it's when. You BOTH will make mistakes and Sakura knows this. She won't hate you no matter what happens. I have never seen her this happy being with you. Don't focus on something that may or may not happen, just live your life one day at a time. Be there for her when you can. Enjoy your time together as a family. While yes, there may come a time when one of you may succumb to death, but worrying about what may or may not happen will just cause the two of you more stress than you need. Right now, stress is the last thing Sakura needs."

Naruto was taken back by Tsunade's bluntness. Like all the women in his life, she was scary when she got pissed off, but she had a point.

"Right. Thanks Granny, I needed that."

"Anytime kid." Tsunade smiled.

Back in the Hokage's office, Tsunade heard a knock at her door.

"Shoot, that's Shizune. I've got to go. Unless it's about Sakura's pregnancy or some other emergency, try to call me only after hours on Element's time. 2200 to 0000 hours." Tsunade ordered.

"Uh, alright. Talk to you later Granny."

Tsunami nodded before straining to get some words out. "I love you both." She said before hanging up.

It was then that Sakura emerged from the bathroom and saw that the screen was blank.

"Where did she go?" Sakura asked.

"She had to hang up. Someone was coming into her office." Naruto said.

"Aww...dammit..." Sakura pouted.

"She said that she loved us, if that makes you feel any better. And that when we get back we need to have a second wedding so that all out friends can attend."

Sakura went wide eyed. "Second...what...?"

 _ **'You idiot, you didn't even propose to her yet.'**_

 _'She already knew I was gonna propose. We've talked about it enough times.'_ Naruto pointed out.

"A-are you serious...?" Sakura breathed out.

"Of course. You said you wanted to get married right?"

"Well...yes I do...I-I guess it just kinda caught me off guard is all."

"Well save your surprise for later. I've still got to propose to you and buy a ring." Naruto said.

"You know you can have one made at any replicator right..." Sakura deadpanned.

"Yes, but their all generic. Yours has to be special. Something unique, something I pick out. At least that's what Pervy Sage once told me."

Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed. "I don't care what it is honestly. It's the meaning behind it is what makes it special."

"And Pervy Sage said that it was the effort behind it that makes it special." Naruto countered.

Sakura shrugged. "If you say so. Well then, whatever it is you decide to get, I'll be more surprised than you have ever seen me. In the meantime," She sauntered up to him and put her mouth to his ear. "I have a wet hole that needs attention..." She whispered to him.

That naughty voice of her, it never failed to tighten his trousers.

"You're fucking shameless, you know that?" He whispered back.

"Only for you..." She cooed in his ear.

She took him by the hand and led him into the bedroom. His eyes never separating from her swaying hips. Once inside she led him to the bed and sat him down. Not wasting a second she pushed him flat on his back as she stood over him.

"Don't move." She instructed.

Naruto could only nod as he felt her hands push down hard on his junk, with only his pants standing between them.

Sakura stood up straight as she clapped her hands together.

"Release." She whispered, undoing her transformation jutsu. Her body below her neck was obscured by smoke which cleared to reveal a pink, see through, nightie with fuzzy trim.

"Woahaho! Nice one!" Naruto drooled.

"You like what you see?" Sakura asked as she gave Naruto a little twirl, giving her rear a little twirk to show off the heart shaped crotch less panties.

"Oh...you know it..." Naruto growled huskily.

"Good." Sakura said as she unzipped Naruto's pants before deciding that it was taking too long and promptly tearing them in two. "Cause I have been aching for you all week. I've been dreaming about you, even when you were sleeping right beside me. It's been so long and it's felt even longer..." She moaned as Naruto's cock stood at attention.

"So for this first time, no foreplay, no games, I just want to feel you inside me. To feel whole again. Feel your hot. Hard. Cock. Inside me." She whispered in his ear as she positioned herself closer and closer over his pole.

"So don't move. Just let me use you..."

 _'I'm so marrying this woman.'_ He thought before nodding.

Sakura smiled and kissed him on the lips before going to work. Carefully she positioned herself above the ANBU Captain, her fingers feeling so delicate and cool against his burning hot flesh. Once she finally got his head to touch her lips, Naruto let out and eager mew, like he could blow at any time.

Sakura steadied her other hand against his chest and she relaxed her lower half. Her lips were glistening and the excess lubrication dripped down his staff, coating it from top to bottom.

"Sakura...please..." The poor boy begged. Sakura was glad, she had him right where she wanted him. Finally, she had mercy on her man and lowered her body, her folds opening up to receive her lover's hefty offering.

"Aaaaaaahhh..." She sighed. That old familiar feeling was back. All the right spots were being scratched. Her aching muscles were being stretched out again and it felt sooooooooo good.

"Holy shit...I almost forgot what this felt like..." Naruto moaned.

"I didn't." Sakura moaned as she felt her whole body relax without her say so. Her head grew heavy and she found her forehead pressed against Naruto's chest like she was praying before an altar.

"You okay?" Naruto asked with concern.

"Never been better." Sakura answered as she snaked her hands behind his back. "I just missed this feeling so much..." She turned her head to press her ear against Naruto's chest and listened to his heartbeat.

"So have I..."

"Aaashhh... I just want to stay like this for a bit. Where nothing is going wrong, where neither of us are making stupid mistakes, or dealing with other people and their troubles... Is that bad?" She whispered.

"Not at all." Naruto smiled before he wrapped his arms around her.

"Good..." She sighed as she focused on the feeling of having her lover inside her. The heat made it difficult to tell where he began and she ended, but Sakura could still make out the general shape, along with ever twitch and pulse that his living breathing thing made. It tickled her and sent sparks flying through her all at the same time.

Naruto found himself in the same boat. Seeing Sakura in that outfit, and feeling her wrapped around him like a glove. His mind was growing hazy. He felt so safe and warm with her being held so close to him. She soft breasts tickling his chest, her hot breath blowing across his bicep, and her velvety smooth skin against his. He could feel his ball sack tighten in anticipation.

"I could fall asleep right now..." Sakura sighed happily.

 _'Oh shit no...'_ Naruto thought with dread.

"...if I wasn't so horny." Sakura added.

The pink haired vixen began gyrating her hips, Naruto felt his dick sliding out of her and the slight breeze touch his shaft before it was swallowed whole by his lover's folds again. The delicious friction sending tingles up his spine.

The moans and gasps that Sakura was making was utter music to him. Oh how he longed to hear her make those sounds again. He didn't realize how much he missed making love to this woman and he doubted very much that they would get any sleep tonight. Oh how they talked about keeping their sex limited to only a few times a week, but after going more than a week without any, he didn't think they would be limiting their sex that much anymore. The shear warmth of her skin, the sounds she made, the closeness they felt, no force in the world, no, the galaxy could pry them apart now.

He felt Sakura increasing her tempo, thrusting back and forth, her hands still firmly placed on his chest to keep him still. They were lovers, but tonight he was her sex toy, to be used and abused and he loved it.

He heard her breath hitch and knew that she was close. He was close too. The dry week had been harsh to him as well. Any second now the friction would be too much and he would...explode!

He felt Sakura's insides clamp down on his member like a vice grip, squeezing him for every last drop of seed that was hers to own. He clamped down his own hands upon her hips to bring them both closer and let loose with his gift. Sakura felt his warmth splash against her walls. She sighed in content and fell forward after her arms turned to jelly. With her lover Naruto there to catch her.

They could both feel his cream overflowing her and spilling out onto his dick. Sakura sighed. She wanted so badly to go another round, but she was having a difficult time finding the energy. Those 5 minutes of thrusting had drained her and all she felt like doing was to lay on Naruto's chest and feel him soften inside her.

Too bad that didn't happen. Her mind was so foggy that she forgot about his endless stamina and she felt him moving her hips for her, his seed splashing out of her opening with every thrust.

 _'This is what we get for having an insatiable stallion for a lover.'_ Inner Sakura thought.

 _'I'm not complaining...'_ Sakura responded.

She felt Naruto turn them over and now he was on top. She was only slightly disappointed that she couldn't fuck him the way she wanted, but was oh so happy for him to take over.

Naruto lifted up her leg to wrap around him as he thrusted into her again and again and again. Like a never ending piston pounding her pussy and turning her brain to mush.

 _'I'm gonna marry this man...'_ Sakura thought.

 _'I'm gonna split apart from your consciousness so that I can fuck this man.'_ Inner said.

 _'Go for it...'_

 _'I was just saying that. If I split apart from you, that uses chakra. Or do you want to test out third times the charm?'_

 _'Not really.'_

 _'Good. Now moan or move around or something. You're having sex like a dead trout.'_

Before Sakura could do anything, she felt herself being lifted up by the strong arms of her lover for a good pounding, making her moan and gasp with each thrust. after a few moments, he laid her down on another body and felt something get shoved in her ass, making her yell out suddenly. She looked down and saw it was a Shadow clone, filling her other hole.

"Oh my gooood!" Sakura moaned loudly.

"Fuck, you're tight, Sakura-chan. Boss, why didn't you try this hole sooner?" The clone grunted.

"It's...not like I haven't tried..." The real Naruto grunted.

"Guh...who said you could fuck my ass?" Sakura moaned. "I was saving that for your birthday, Naruto..."

"You did...two months ago..." Naruto responded.

That's when Sakura went wide eyed in realization. "Double penetration...my fantasy... you remembered."

"Of course I did...I may be an idiot, but I would still remember your fantasy."

Sakura moaned from having her entire lower region filled to the brim. "You're too generous. You beautiful, beautiful baka..." She groaned.

"..." She whispered.

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"But I always imagined it would be on my knees..." Sakura said as softly as she could, a red hot blush adorned across her cheeks.

"That can be fixed..." Naruto said huskily before rearranging their positions.

"Aaaaahhaaa, holy shit yes..." She moaned on her hands and knees with her ass up and her belly hanging low.

 _'I feel like such a slut.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Only to those who are worthy. Only to this man.'_ Inner thought.

 _'True...I have an idea...'_ Sakura smirked mentally.

Outside, Sakura was moaning more than before.

"Oh yes... fuck me... fuck me like the horny slut I am... mmmm..."

Naruto was surprised by Sakura's outburst, but felt compelled to go along with it instead.

"Oh you are, are you?" He grunted as he see-sawed Sakura from both holes. All the while nipping at her neck while his clone bit at her shoulder.

"That's what you are, aren't you? A dirty little slut, begging for cock. You probably wouldn't have minded if we had done it while on the transport ship so long as you got fucked. Hell, you might have preferred it." He whispered huskily into her ear.

"Yes...and I would've... uhn...let them watch us..." Sakura's mind was blissfully turned to mush. She didn't even know what she was saying anymore.

"Is that so?" Naruto smirked as he crossed his fingers to test that theory. A hundred more Shadow Clones poofed into existence and crowded their apartment bedroom. Another poof of smoke later, and the two lovers found themselves surrounded by a hundred strangers like they were back on the USS Melbourne.

Sakura saw them, but she still moaned like a horny slut. That's when Naruto got a devious idea. He leaned in close to whisper in Sakura's ear. "I wonder if you'd like it better if they were our friends and family... Ino, Sai, Kiba, Sasuke, Tsunade, your parents, Sally, Dr. Crusher, Riker, Picard... All of them staring and seeing the real you... the one I only get to see..."

Sakura's eyes went wide. "No, not them...please no..."

"You sure about that, Sakura-chan? Cause your hips don't seem to agree with you." He said as Sakura subconsciously began to gyrate her hips faster and faster.

"I... I'm gonna..." Sakura moaned. She was building up to the biggest orgasm of her life.

The clones took it as their cue to transform again. The room was filled with smoke and Sakura found herself dreading their reveal.

 _'Oh no, they're gonna see me...know me...the real me...that I'm a...'_ She thought as the smoke cleared, revealing their room to be filled with all of their loved ones. Picard, Crusher, Riker, Worf, Georgi, Data, Lady Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura's parents, all their Jounin instructors, Shino, Choji, Lee, Kiba, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, Sai, Ino, Sasuke, and many others. Sakura was so embarrassed that she wanted to bury herself under the covers and never return, until she looked over at Naruto and saw that same stupid grin on her face, putting her at ease.

"AaahhhaaaHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" She bellowed for all the heavens to hear as she came.

Her body shook like a leaf in the wind, her body convulsing as she rode out her orgasm that had no end in sight.

"NARUTO, NARUTO, NARUTO!" She chanted like a woman possessed.

As Naruto blew his load inside her, she collapsed on top of him in exhaustion and ecstasy, the clones dissipating into smoke as they rode out their massive orgasms.

They were sweaty and naked, breathless and tired, but after over a week, they finally felt whole again.

After five minutes, or what seemed like hours, Naruto finally regained his senses. After five minutes more he felt his strength returning to his legs. Carefully, he managed to stand himself up and picked Sakura up in a princess carry. She snuggled close to his chest, her lower region still felt like jelly.

"I'm...so tired..." Sakura gasped, still feeling breathless.

"Well we need to take a bath first. Hokage's orders." He said as he kissed her forehead.

"Okay...you won't hear me complain..."

"That's a shame. You're so cute when you pout." Naruto smiled.

"S-shuddup!" She whined while taking a pathetic swing at Naruto's head. "You stupid idiot..."

 _'Wow, I think I fucked her brains out.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'You're welcome.'**_

Naruto gave Kurama a mental bro fist before sending a Shadow Clone over to draw a bath.

"Hey boss! This has actual running water." The clone called.

"Oh thank god. I was just assuming so before." Naruto shouted back.

"Finally...an actual shower..." Sakura sighed happily.

"Well I was hoping we could rest in a bath." Naruto said.

"Well, that too. I can't even move, so."

It was then that Sakura felt an all too familiar urge.

"I have to go..." Sakura blushed.

"Oh..." Naruto replied. "Can you stand on your own?"

"Put me down and let's find out."

Naruto did just that and found to both of their delights that Sakura could stand on her own. A bit shaky, but she could still stand.

"Still a little weak, but I'll manage. Grab us a couple of towels and some fresh clothes." Sakura said before she made her way to the toilet.

Naruto did just that and by the time he returned he could gaze upon the sight of a wobbly and naked Sakura putting one foot in the tub.

"Oooh! Hot..." Sakura hissed for a moment before she slowly settled herself in. It was then she caught Naruto staring at her and gave him a warm smile. "Ogling me again?"

"Ogling is such a dirty word. I prefer the term, appreciating a work of art." He said slyly.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. "Nice. Did Jiraiya teach you that one?"

"Actually, no. That just popped into my head like nowwwwOW! HOT!"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "I just said it was hot, baka."

"Well I didn't believe you!" He whined.

"Oh hush and get in here you big lug."

Naruto smiled in acknowledgement before stripping off what was left of his Star Fleet uniform, until he stood in front of Sakura wearing only a smile.

"Come on in."

Naruto stepped into the bath tub, "Hot..." and eased his way to the bottom. Now the two of them could face one another on either side of the tub, with their feet resting near each other's chest.

"So nice to do this again..." Sakura sighed contently.

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed as he too relaxed.

"So... Lady Tsunade is a Starfleet Commander...that was unexpected."

"Didn't we already know that through that terrorist guy though?" Naruto asked.

"Yea, but he could've been just making up stories. He couldn't keep his stories straight to save his ass."

"Seriously. That guy was a few kunais short of a full pouch." Naruto said as he shifted his body around.

"But you gotta give him credit for being right about Lady Tsunade."

"I guess. Which leads to the bigger question. What do you think of our two masters being former Starfleet crewmen?"

"Well, it's nothing short of a surprise. I'll have to pull up their records, provided that they aren't classified."

Then Sakura started to brain storm. "Ha'Tol said they served aboard the Enterprise C. I was wondering where that uniform she had on came from. I read that the Starfleet uniform of that era looked like that. They used it from 2218 onward until 2248 until they made the switch to the ones we have now. So that part makes sense. What doesn't make sense is how Lady Tsunade was unable to prove our relation to the Humans of Earth."

"I don't know. It's not a real big concern of mine if I'm honest." Naruto admitted.

"How could it not be? Proving that we are in fact related to Earth's Humans in more than just a species? It would prove that our ancestors did in fact come from Earth. Think about it. Our history doesn't date that far back and the history of our people as a whole is missing a lot of pieces to the puzzle." Sakura defended.

"To what end? What's that got to do with the here and now?" Naruto retorted.

Sakura leaned forward. "The technology, that alone is enough of a reason. Not so much the ease of living, but the replicators can be used to end our worlds hunger problems. Then there's the medical technology. The medical procedures, all of that. Then the technology used to create ships and warp drive. Our scientists can explore regions that we couldn't even begin to fathom. There are endless reasons why we should prove this."

"Oh right. Duh. Those all sound like excellent reasons." Naruto conceded.

"But what doesn't make any sense how or why she wasn't able to prove it. A simple DNA test would have been...wait...I think I know why."

"Go on." Naruto said, completely lost if this was going to get scientific.

"A simple DNA test with another Human would only prove that we are Human as well. We'd need to perform a paternity DNA test of sorts. We'd have to get a sample from one of our clans here and compare them to our own. If their chromosomes match our own in any way, that proves we came from Earth right there." Sakura deduced.

"That sounds like a task for another day." Naruto said as he tried to play footsy with Sakura.

Sakura giggled. "Well, I didn't say we should do it now."

"Nope. The history of our two planets can wait. Until then, why don't you come here and sit on my lap." He offered, giving Sakura an ear to ear grin.

Sakura scooched her way over to him and sat on his lap, feeling his strong arms wrap around her protectively.

"Mmmmmm..." He purred as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"I should've chased after you a long time ago...if only I knew then what I know about you now." Sakura said softly as he nuzzled her head into his chest.

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Naruto asked.

"I'm just saying it because you make me so happy. You fulfilled my fantasy and gave me the biggest orgasm yet. To add to that, we're going to have a family..." Sakura smiled.

"Don't feel too bad. I was the one that let you go. I knew from day one that you were the girl for me and yet I didn't fight for you when Sasuke came back. Because I was convinced that I could never make you as happy as you would be with Sasuke, no matter how hard I tried. And I was content...no, actually I just pretended to be content..." Naruto admitted as he kissed her crown.

"Well to be perfectly honest with you, I was happy with Sasuke for all but two months. At first you know he was passionate, caring, kind, but when we made love for the first time, he just stopped trying, and well... you know the rest."

"I do. And it's all in the past now..." Naruto said as he readjusted his legs in the water.

"Yup..." Sakura sighed contently.

The two of them nuzzled together and let the hot water relax their muscles. Sakura sighed content as she sat on Naruto's boner. Then a thought occurred to her.

"So Naruto, how was your first time with Hinata?"

Naruto froze up for a bit and Sakura could swear that she felt him shrinking.

"What makes you ask that?" He said nervously.

"Well, I find it interesting that you suddenly fell for Hinata completely out of the blue. You admit to her your sudden feelings almost two years after Pain's attack while we went to rescue Hanabi. So, I guess I'm just curious as to how your first time was."

"Oh..." Naruto said as he contemplated how to word this. It was no easy thing, talking to your girlfriend about your ex.

"Promise you won't get mad?"

" Did you when I told you about Sasuke?"

"No." He said. "Maybe a little on the inside though."

"Then there ya go."

Naruto sighed. "My first time with Hinata...well we were both virgins, so it was nothing like what we've had." He began.

"Naturally." Sakura urged him on.

"So I didn't know what I was doing and neither did she. One thing led to another and I remember her laying completely naked on her backside on the bed. Her hands covering her breasts and her face like she was scared of me. The moonlight was illuminating her pale skin. She looked...amazing... And for the first time since we had started dating. I didn't think to compare her to you at all."

"That actually sounds like an amazing night. So, what actually got you two to get into such a shitty relationship? She would have been the last one I'd expect to call it off."

"Well again, I told you about how she was so timid because she didn't want to risk upsetting me and losing me. Well it cuts both ways. She was so nervous about upsetting me that any time I got angry with her she would cry or something. And I hated making her cry. I felt like I was walking on eggshells around her. I couldn't appear to be too forceful but I also couldn't get her to suggest what she wanted to do. And the sex..." He muttered. "The first time was like every time. She'd lay there and let me do whatever I wanted. It felt great, and she'd moan whenever I did something she'd like, but she never took the initiative. And she'd always be so nervous that more than a few times I felt like I was hurting her. I just got sick of being the only one in the relationship."

"I see...for me, my first time was...painful. I initiated the foreplay, but he didn't give me any and I was already hot and bothered. Once I got him off, he practically forced me onto our bed and started fucking me relentlessly, not giving me a moments reprieve to catch my breath after he broke my hymen or anything. It hurt so much and it was like he didn't even care. I felt no pleasure from it...only pain. He came inside me and then that was it. I was still bleeding, still in pain and he was the one who got the most out of it. The next few times were better, I was actually able to get pleasure out of it, but you already know the rest. Part of the reason I broke up with him was because he basically used me as a sex toy. He got off and that was it. Also, and this is a little embarrassing to admit...but whenever Sai was out on a mission, I'd go over to see Ino and... well..."

Sakura felt something very hard poke her in the butt.

"I'm sorry, what now?" Naruto inquired.

"Uh huh...Yea I felt that, horse dick." Sakura smirked.

Then she sighed. "Yes, Ino and I used to fuck when our men were away. Actually, we used to do that before we were dating. We experimented a little just before you got back from your training trip. It was...actually quite enjoyable..."

"Uh huh, and tell me about these experiments-for science." He said quickly.

"Ever the pervert..." Sakura giggled. "To be honest, she was the one to talk me into it. I was nervous as hell, never having done anything sexual at all, save for fingering myself when I got so horny I couldn't stand it. It started with a little kissing at first, nothing serious. I had never kissed a guy before, but she had. So she was the one to teach me that. In the midst of that, her hand had traveled down to my pussy and I was already soaking wet. Needless to say, she was taken aback by it, but used that to her advantage and starting tickling my clit. From there, it was all it took for us to strip completely and we 69'd, we scissor fucked, she tried to use a dildo on me, but I flat out refused, wanting Sasuke to be the one to take my virginity. We used to do that 3 times a month, just for the pleasure."

Naruto took a deep breath as his pole lifted Sakura up.

"Woah...down boy." Sakura smirked.

"Can't help it. Imagination is too good." He said.

"Oh really...?" Sakura Smirked devilishly.

 _'Damn...I wish I had the Chakra to do what I really want to do.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Save it for the second honeymoon. We've got to reward him for tonight. After all, one good turn deserves another.'_ Inner smirked.

 _'That's...what I was going to do.'_

"Tell me. What were the both of you wearing?" Naruto gasped as one of his hands disappeared beneath the water.

"Our first time? Just our typical casual clothes when we weren't on duty. Nothing special. It was just for pleasure."

"Yes, but what about your underwear? I need details, woman..." He moaned.

"Um...god that was a while ago...well, I wore nothing special, but Ino generally doesn't wear a bra and she normally had a purple thong. The crotch was see through."

"Ugh..." He moaned as Sakura felt his hand brush against her rear. "What about you? What color, what material, what patterns?"

"I just had simple underwear on, nothing special for the first time. The second time, however, I elected to get a pink, lacy push-up bra -not that it helped any- and pink lacy panties."

"Oh..." He said as Sakura felt more and more stroking.

"You horny bastard." Sakura giggled.

"Well you're a sexy bitch. You make me this horny." He retorted.

"True." Sakura nodded.

Then she had an idea. "Give me some Chakra. I'll show you."

"It doesn't work like that, Sakura-chan. The baby will just suck that chakra too."

"Damn..."

Naruto just held her close. "Just don't get mad when I try and act selfish." He said as he started rubbing himself against Sakura's bottom.

"I would with you anyway."

A few seconds later, Sakura felt Naruto's body shudder against hers and something warmer than the water splash against her bottom.

"Feel better?" Sakura cooed.

"Much. And now for you." Naruto said as he tried to reach around to Sakura's front.

"That won't be necessary." Sakura said.

"What? But Sakura-chan, I got off and you didn't. It's not fair." Naruto said.

"Who says I didn't get off?" Sakura smirked.

"Wait...what?"

"You're not the only one with a good imagination." She replied as she kissed Naruto on the cheek.

"God I love you..."

"And I love you." She said as she sunk deeper into his chest, let the hot water and the feeling of her lover's chest lull her to sleep. 

* * *

**cmartin here. I have been seeing some of you talk about the lemons in this story. If you want, we can ease up on them a bit. Aside from that, we have a Naruto and Legend of Zelda crossover in the works that we adopted from another author. His story was cut off suddenly and we were left with wanting more. It had such potential that me and Panda started discussing some ideas and the possibility of taking on yet another project. We did a couple of test chapters and it just kept going from there. So please, check that story out, review it, tell us what you think. We have a lot of chapters for that story already.**


	16. Chapter 16: Haruno

**Author's Note from Panda: Hey guys, we are back.**

 **First off, I want to draw attention to a certain review, or more like I want to immortalize it…**

I have grown up watching Star Trek in all it's variations and movies. I found this story very interesting and at first I will admit I was skeptical since I was just browsing around in the crossovers to see what was out there. Your description interested me and I started to read what you created here. Sadly real life meddled because I started to read this a few months ago and you have updated it several times since I read it. I am sorry that I didn't post a review back then due t so much drama and I feel I didn't show the respect a story like this deserves.

Now then like I said I was skeptical when I started to read this because how can such drastically different worlds interact. To be honest You surprised the hell out of me to be blunt! I laughed and got wrapped up in what you created I never was able to predict what you had in store and believe me that is hard to do with so many stories that share similar plots or ideas your story is truly one of a kind! I enjoyed your story a lot despite the pain it causes me and I will keep reading it because I want to see what you are creating.

I will not lie your story does hurt a bit and I will be honest here. The main reason I didn't review the first time is because of the fact I was dealing with the legal issues of my son being adopted by another family. I was denied the chance of being a father so seeing Naruto living my dream is hard. You have done an amazing portrayal of a young family getting ready to welcome a baby along with all the insanity that comes with it and life. I share this not to discourage you or make you change but to let you know how amazing you are doing. I look forward to where you are going to take this couple and just how much they will change the galaxy!

Keep it up! till the next chapter then!  
Drekk

 **Yeah, Drekk, I know I already PM'ed you and thanked you personally, but there is a reason I want to immortalize this. Because a few weeks or months ago, this story exceeded 200 followers. 190 favorites and 227 followers at the time of writing.**

 ***fires confetti gun***

 **That seems crazy for what was originally supposed to be a ten chapter and done story. Every day I check cmartin's page to see that we have acquired another follower or whatever. All of your reviews (even the critical ones) keep us coming back to write chapter after chapter. But Drekk's…his review was different. It was personal. It is the kind of reaction that writers from all the different genres hope and pray to get when they publish their work. To receive it here on a crossover fanfiction of all things is heartwarming. It turns this fun little hobby into almost an obligation to write a great story for those we would call our fans. His review actually made us realize things about our story that we never noticed before. Like is the "five year mission" really a story about two fish out of water ninjas being thrown into the vast sea of Star Trek to be body guards, or is it actually a story about the challenges faced by expecting parents as they live through life, or maybe it's just a story about culture clash and the adventures they face one chapter at a time?**

 **That is up for each individual reader to decide. As for us authors, we can only keep writing this story we love with the formula that seems to be working. So please keep reviewing. Keeping telling us what you love and what you think we can improve upon.**

 **Thank you. Enjoy the chapter. I gotta clean up all this damn confetti covering my laptop.**

 **Shit, it's in the keys.**

* * *

A week had passed since the Enterprise crew had returned to Earth and been scattered all across the globe to await reassignment. For many crewmembers, that meant an excuse to return to their homes and enjoy an impromptu vacation. Such was the case for the Adams family, a nuclear family of engineers with their only daughter, 5-year-old Sally Adams.

Sally and her parents had returned to their simple two story house in the suburbs of Rochester Hills, Michigan. A well to do city on the north side of metro Detroit.

Sally's house was located at the bottom of a hill with a decent yard and at least two trees for every corner of the house. The exterior and interior were painted sunshine yellow (not even Sally's mother could tell you why they chose those two colors). On the top floor, the two parents slept in the same king sized bed with their light summer sheets on. They had started off sleeping back to back, but the summer heat made any physical contact an unbearable sauna. Instead they had moved close, but well enough away from each other to keep from overheating.

They were both enjoying a blissful sleep when a loud thud woke both of them up.

Amanda sprang up from her pillow while her husband stayed prone in their bed.

"Jack...did you hear that?" Amanda hissed.

"Huh...? Wuzzat...?" Jack asked, not fully awake.

"Jack, wake up! I heard a bang!" Amanda hissed a little louder.

Jack sat up to listen to what his wife was talking about.

"I don't hear anything." He muttered skeptically.

"I swear to God; it was a huge kind of thud!" Amanda whispered.

"It was probably just the house settling. You know thing has been around since the 1970s..." Jack grumbled.

"Jack...it came from Sally's room!" Amanda stated.

At that moment, they both heard another thud.

"Get my Phaser." Jack ordered as he sprang up out of bed.

As Amanda dug her husband's phaser out of his nightstand (and wondered why he didn't just grab it himself) Jack ran out of their bedroom and down the narrow hallway to the other side of the second story. His heart pounded and his mind raced with possibilities, each more terrifying than the last.

Was it an intruder? A burglar? A kidnapper? A rapist? Murderer? Should he announce his presence? In case he was over reacting, he didn't want to startle Sally.

He froze right outside his daughter's door, his fingers hovering just above the knob. Amanda was right behind him with his phaser in hand. Maybe they were just overreacting...

They heard another thud, and Sally cried out in pain.

Jack turned the knob and slammed his shoulder against the door, damn near breaking it down.

"SALLY!" He shouted as Amanda aimed her phaser at everything and nothing, looking for creep that would dare hurt her baby.

They both ran in and had a panic attack when they saw that Sally's lamp was on and her bed was empty, yet quickly relaxed when they noticed Sally laying on the carpet with her feet pressed against the wall.

Sally screamed when her parents burst in. Jack scooped up his daughter and backed them both into a corner while Amanda did a quick sweep of the bedroom. She checked the windows, behind the bed, under the bed, in the closest, under Sally's desk, and even the pile of stuffed animals piled up in the corner of Sally's room.

All clear.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Sally asked, frightened by her parents' sudden entrance. Jack held her close and petted her hair to sooth her while Amanda turned on every light she could find in the house. In the hallway, the study, the guest bedroom, and the bathroom before moving on to search the first floor.

"Be quiet, sweetie. Someone might be here." Jack said.

"Huh? There's no one here." Sally said.

"Then what was that banging?" Jack asked.

"Oh, sorry...that was me." Sally said sheepishly.

"You? What were you doing banging on the walls at night?" Jack demanded to know.

"I was practicing." Sally said obviously.

"Practicing?" Jack repeated, his brain still a little sleepy now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

"Yeah, I was practicing what Big Sis Sakura had taught me." Sally said delighted. She wiggled her way out of her father's grasp and walked over to her wall to show him.

There she put her bare foot on the wall as if she meant to lean on it. Instead she lifted her whole body up by her leg adjacent to the wall and stamped her other foot on the wall too.

Before Jack's very eyes, his daughter was standing on the side of the wall without anything supporting her up. She was using chakra to stick to the wall!

Sally tried to take a step forward, but instead she lost her balance and slid to the floor, giving off another loud thud.

"Urgh!" She whined in frustration. "I could take three steps before! Really I could!" She proclaimed. Begging her daddy to believe her.

Jack just stared at his daughter in disbelief. She just stood on the walls...

She could walk on walls...

She could use chakra... He thought to himself.

At that moment, Amanda came running back up the stairs, frantic and out of breath.

"I heard another thud! Are you two alright?!" Amanda exclaimed.

"We're fine. Put the phaser away, Amanda. There is no intruder." Jack said while never tearing his eyes away from his daughter.

"Then what was that noise?" Amanda asked.

"Our daughter was practicing walking on the walls like Sakura had taught her." Jack explained.

"Wait...she was what now?"

"Walking on walls. Big Sis Sakura called it the Tree Climbing Technique." Sally explained cheerfully.

"Y-you...were?"

"I was! I could even take three steps before, but now I can't seem to take any without falling..." Sally said, disappointed in herself.

"She was...what little she could do; I saw her do it." Jack informed.

Amanda had to rub her eyes in exhaustion. It was always tough raising a kid as is, now their child was 5 years old and could walk on walls...

"Why...we're you practicing at...?" Amanda looked over at Sally's kitty cat clock. "5 in the morning?!" She exclaimed.

"I... I'm sorry mommy..." Sally whimpered like she was gonna cry.

As soon as she saw her daughter look down with misty eyes, all of Amanda's anger vanished and she knelt down to hug her daughter.

"No, no... it's okay..."

"We were worried is all, sweetie..." Jack said softly.

"Also, why weren't you practicing over your bed?" Amanda asked, wondering why their daughter would deliberately fall on the floor over and over again.

"You told me not to jump on the bed..." Sally said meekly.

Jack and Amanda sweat dropped.

"We'll...make an exception for this." Jack said.

"But not during bedtime." Amanda added. "If you want to train you'll do it during daytime and with your father or me present."

"Okay..." Sally said quietly

"Good, now back in bed young lady. If you're really good, mommy will make us pancakes with bacon tomorrow." Jack smiled, making Sally's face light up like a Christmas tree.

"Okay!" Sally cheered happily

She quickly jumped into bed and threw the covers over her.

Amanda and Jack took it in turns to kiss their daughter on the forehead good night for a second time before carefully shutting the door to her room.

"Night mommy...night daddy..." Sally said sleepily.

"Good night sweetie." Amanda smiled before finally shutting the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, flying overhead Sally's house at 2,000 miles per hour was a royal blue sports hover car. Driven by none other than the number 1 maverick ninja Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki with Lieutenant Sakura Haruno riding shotgun and Specialist Kurama of the Leaf curled up in the back seats.

 _'Lieutenant Sakura Haruno's log. Stardate: 48541.2...'_ Sakura thought to herself as she typed up her personal journal entry on her tablet computer.

 _'After one week of being stationed on Earth, Naruto, Kurama, and myself have become adjusted to life in our apartment in La Barre France. So of course we had to find new things to do immediately, less we devolve back into a routine._

 _Naruto recently made a proposal to the Admiralty board of Starfleet to allow him to train up a squad of 8 security officers in the ways of the Leaf's ANBU. Allowing then to better respond to threats faced by the crew of the Enterprise. He hopes that the success of this first squad will lead to the formation of similar squads in every Starfleet vessel serving the Federation and will ultimately save lives.'_ Sakura typed before pausing for a moment in reflection.

 _'He told me personally that Olivia and her son Joshua (an Engineer from the USS Adelphi), we're a huge inspiration for this, or more accurately they were the straw that broke the camel's back after facing down the Borg on the Enterprise.'_

 _'Whatever the case. Naruto did what he does best and threw everything he had into what he believed in happen, by making others believe so in the process. (Such as the Admiralty board.) Now we find ourselves headed halfway across the planet from our apartment in France to San Francisco, home to Starfleet's HQ where Naruto's handpicked soldiers have been gathered to be trained by Naruto in our ninja ways._

 _I have full confidence that if anyone can do the impossible such as teaching adult civilians how to use chakra, it is Naruto. He has that knack, and I myself will be busy with other matters of possibly astronomical-'_ Sakura was cut off from typing when their hover car hit a rough bit of turbulence and Naruto instinctively threw his hand in front of Sakura's chest to prevent her from slamming her face into the dashboard.

"You alright, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I'm fine. You can let go now." Sakura said, annoyed only at Naruto's overprotective nature, which was sweet for the first few months but now in the third month of her pregnancy was starting to grate on her tits.

"And can you stop cupping a feel?!" Sakura snapped, making Naruto pull his hand back quickly from Sakura's chest.

While Naruto was apologizing to her, Sakura returned to her journal entry.

 _'-importance.'_ She finished the line.

 _'Over the course of our time spent aboard the Enterprise, it has become more and more clear that there is a significant connection between the humans of our world and the humans from Earth. Kurama recently told me that Naruto was willing to chalk it all up to a huge evolutionary coincidence born out of two planets sharing similar ecosystems. An interesting and completely plausible hypothesis for such a world renowned dumbass, but recent evidence has come to light that may toss that theory completely out the window.'_

 _'Captain Picard's sister-in-law revealed to us that in the country of Japan (a large island nation off the east coast of the continent of Asia) there exists two clans that share the clan names of mine and Naruto's clans. The Haruno and the Uzumaki.'_ Sakura typed. She paused as her mind raced with possibilities.

 _'With my maternity leave still forbidding me from working for Starfleet formally, I thought I would take this opportunity while Naruto is busy to investigate these two clans in Japan myself.'_ Sakura typed.

 _'Unfortunately...Naruto is-'_

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked politely. Once again breaking Sakura out of her concentration.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I've changed my mind again. I don't want you going to Japan all by yourself." Naruto nervously insisted.

Sakura sighed. _'-being difficult.'_ She typed.

"Naruto...we've been over this time and time again. What do you possibly think will happen to me there?"

"You don't even want to know what I think might happen." He said as his mind raced with a thousand different scenarios, each one more elaborate and horrible than the last.

 **"To keep the tone light, I'll tell you that the most humorous 'worst case scenario' has you getting mugged by clowns...What?"** Kurama said before he comprehended what Naruto was thinking.

"Look, just stay with me today and help me train the guys. You're better at explaining chakra than I am anyway. You'd certainly be a better teacher too. We can go visit Japan together on another day." Naruto said, trying to compromise.

"No, I'm going today and that's final." Sakura said firmly.

"Sakura...I REALLY don't feel good about you going on this trip." Naruto insisted.

"Why?" Sakura snapped back, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Why? Yes, why, why would I feel nervous about being half a world away from my wife while she is roaming around a foreign country on a foreign planet, alone, and she can't even use her chakra?" He asked sarcastically, but Sakura picked up on at first was what he just called her.

"Did you just call me your wife?" She asked, making the two males in the car pause.

"Huh, I think I did." Naruto admitted.

"Why did you call me your wife? You haven't even proposed yet." Sakura reminded him.

"Well, you feel like my wife sometimes." Naruto replied.

"Sometimes?"

"Yeah, you know, all those times you're around me."

"Aw, that's sweet... I think. But back to our argument. First off, Naruto, I won't be alone. I've got Kurama coming with me." Sakura gestured to the 9 Tailed Demon Fox sitting in the back of their rented car, who was currently transformed to look like an orange furred golden retriever as to not draw attention once they were out in public.

"Who, may I remind you, has a mental link with you at all times." Sakura added. "On top of that, I still have the Thunder God Seal you placed on me." Sakura then gestured to the hidden tattoo over her heart. The seal was unique in that it was invisible to the naked eye and could only be viewed under direct contact from Naruto's unique chakra signature. Meaning it was secret marking for his eyes only. Sakura nearly slapped Naruto the first time he explained this to her, it was so cute and corny.

"And if all of that weren't enough. I still have my combadge that can contact you or anyone else in Starfleet. And my own phaser for personal defense." Sakura held up her discreet phaser that fit comfortably in her hand. Her lack of access to her own chakra having forced her to take up shooting practice.

"Yet even with all of that. You'd still rather I spend my days locked up in some secure bunker half a universe away from anything remotely dangerous, wouldn't you?" Sakura asked, although the look in Naruto's eyes told her that she hit the nail on the head.

"Is that so wrong?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"Are you kidding me?! YES, it's that bad!" Sakura exclaimed heatedly. "God...ever since we found out I was pregnant you've been treating me like an old woman in prison. Enough is enough! You're smothering me Naruto!"

Naruto flinched away from Sakura, which was hard while they were stuck in a car together. Her words cutting deep with every syllable.

 **"Um, to be fair, he wasn't seriously considering the bunker thing."** Kurama spoke up in his host's defense.

Sakura sighed. "I know he wouldn't actually, but the way he's been acting lately, his over protectiveness, his...grrrr..." She growled in frustration. She felt like pulling her hair out. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Look...I'm sorry for getting upset like that. But I just...need some space. I understand that this is your first opportunity to have the family you never had, but you need to calm down with this."

"I can't, Sakura-chan. I try to calm down about you and all I end up thinking about is Olivia and her kid. Or of my parents. Or of Kurenai-sensei. And I just..." Naruto stammered. Feeling so frustrated.

Sakura sighed, realizing that she would have to try a different approach.

"Listen, Naruto. You know that I still worry about you right? Even with all your abilities and Kurama's healing factors. Every time you go out into the field without me I worry about you." Sakura said. "That one day you'll get injured enough that Kurama won't be able to heal you and worst still, I won't make it in time to save you."

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed. Admitting that on many a times, he had worried Sakura to the point of her ripping her hair out.

"Yet I never tell you not to go. Not when I know that you aren't just running off to take unnecessary risks or do something reckless. I trust that deep inside that thick skull of yours you always have a good reason for your actions. And that's what you need to do for me right now. You need to trust me."

"I do trust you. It's just other people that I don't trust." Naruto replied.

"And that's a bullshit excuse." Sakura countered. "You should never trust strangers. Not before you get to know them. No, you need to trust me that I'm not going to just run headlong into trouble. That I'm smart enough to keep myself out of danger. And that no matter what any of us do to prevent otherwise, shit happens. I could get hurt, but that is okay." Sakura finished her rant.

The car fell silent as Sakura's words sunk in. Let it never be questioned that Sakura was the brains of their little outfit.

Naruto reduced the speed of the hover car to a mere cruising speed of 500 mph to better help him gather his thoughts.

"You're right...you're absolutely right..." Naruto admitted sadly. He felt like such a jackass.

"I'm glad you finally see that..." Sakura said softly. "Now, can we please put this matter to bed and leave it alone?"

"Of course. So long as I can keep worrying about you as the day goes on." Naruto asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"That'd be fine." Sakura smirked.

 **"Great. Now that that's settled, do we have anything else worth talking about?"** Kurama said, hoping to spare everyone another second of this conversation.

"Yes, let's. How do you like driving the car, Naruto?" Sakura asked, picking the first topic that came to mind.

"Oh this thing is awesome." Naruto smirked as he made the hover car do a corkscrew around a passing cloud. The passengers all braced themselves against the frame of the interior, even as they laughed their heads off from the rush of the adrenaline.

"This thing is wickedly fast, turns on a dime, and handles like a dream." Naruto recited the sports hover car's advertising slogan. "And to top it all off. The rental guy didn't make us pay for a thing. We just showed up, said we wanted a car, and he told us to pick one!" Naruto exclaimed. Recalling the all the time and effort it would take to rent a horse drawn carriage or even a cart.

"That's what you get in a world without currency." Sakura smiled.

"Eh, I don't know. The whole thing seems weird to me." Naruto admitted, making Sakura stare at him like he just dropped from the moon again.

"Weird? How is it weird?" Sakura asked.

"I just can't wrap my head around a world without any money. You're telling me that everything on this planet is free?" Naruto said.

"Captain Picard explained that to us shortly after we came aboard. After their world obtained peace, they work to better themselves, money is no longer their driving force."

"Yeah I get that, but even with all of that, no one ever wants more of anything? Nobody ever collects little nick knacks that only they would want but nobody else needs?"

"Well that's what replicators are for, remember?" Sakura stated.

"Yeah, but it seems almost bleak to me, ya know? Having everything you could ever want without ever having to work for it." Naruto said as they passed over a pristine lake.

"It's like...what's the point of giving effort if there is no end goal? Like why would anyone work hard if they can all be given the same nice car or decent house regardless?"

"Really? I thought you of all people would love the idea of having an unlimited supply of ramen." Sakura pointed out.

"I do...having everyone have all the food, water, and housing they need sounds great to me. But in my experience people need more than a collective goal to function. They need a personal one. It's what gets them out of bed in the morning and makes them feel like individuals." Naruto said.

"Or maybe here, that's no longer their driving force. I mean, look around you. Their planet finally obtained peace 300 years ago after centuries of war. Think about it. In time, our planet could look like this in a few hundred years."

Naruto looked out his windows and beheld the thousands of miles of mountainous terrain stretching from north to south, past the horizon. The snowcapped peaks, the lush green forests covering the landscape, and right below them Naruto could see a city built right into the valley. Naruto could see that the city was still waking up, the headlights of all the different hover cars entering and leaving the city illuminated the streets.

The couple had left France around 12 o'clock noon and on this side of the planet it was barely 5 AM. Naruto had to stop to take awe in the thought that they had traveled across 8 time zones in a little under an hour in their hover car. The dashboard computer read that they still had one more time zone to cross before they reached San Francisco, 15 minutes away. It also read that the city below them was called Park City. Not exactly the most unique city name, Naruto thought, but Naruto and Sakura couldn't help but admire its beauty.

"Yeah...maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing." Naruto finally said.

"Well...it would be in one sense..." Sakura mused. "There would be no need for Shinobi anymore."

"I don't know Sakura. They still have a need for soldiers don't they?"

"I'm saying, if Starfleet doesn't add our planet to their alliance." Sakura clarified.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that if we don't join with the Alliance, then our ninja system will die off? Or that if we do join the Alliance, our ninja system will become obsolete?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Um..." Sakura stammered. She was having a hard time getting her thoughts straight.

 **"I think she means that if our world obtains the peace you long for, be it with Starfleet or not, you Ninja would be out of a job. Except for stopping small time bandits."** Kurama interjected.

"Oh riiiight!" Naruto snapped is fingers in realization.

"Yes. You remember how difficult it was back home? Jounin were taking on D-ranked missions just to make rent. We ANBU started taking apart smaller and smaller mob bosses. I was working every fourth weekend at the hospital and the number one cause for admission wasn't broken bones or stab wounds, it was stress. Highly skilled ninjas can't find enough work and lowly skilled ninjas can't find work at all. As good as your intentions are to end war (and I still fully support you) the old system was never just going to fade away after any climactic battle. People need to work, and what we are doing now will provide for them that work." Sakura said.

"How do you figure?" Naruto asked.

"Well think about it. If my hunch is right and the Elementians and the Earthlings are related, then Starfleet has to allow our planet to join the Federation and not wait for our species to discover faster than light travel. Because like you said, Starfleet still needs soldiers. We might not be able rid our society of money in our lifetimes, but this could solve our world's economic crisis in 10 years. That is insane." Sakura exclaimed.

"On top of that. If your ANBU program is successful, it will pave the way for all the shinobi who come after us. It will provide a stepping stone for all shinobi to enter the Starfleet forces."

 **"So it's really up to you two save your world from going into an economical decline if you really want peace."** Kurama said.

"Damn...I never really thought about it like that..." Naruto stated. "I mean I was thinking of donating a portion of my share of the gold when we got back. But when you put it like that... This could be our most important mission ever."

 **"Definitely not going to be as glamorous as your fight against the Rabbit Lady, but then again where do you go next after fighting quote-unquote god?"** Kurama sarcastically asked.

"Maybe, but this isn't just saving our world it's ensuring it's future." Sakura added.

 **"Right."** Kurama agreed.

"Wow..." Naruto said in awe.

"Yeah, it really is cool." Sakura said as they continued on their drive over the North American countryside.

Around fifteen minutes later they came within sight of their destination, the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." Sakura said in awe.

"Me either." Naruto agreed.

 **"Just goes to show what you Humans are truly capable of. It scares me, honestly..."** Kurama said.

"Really? How does a couple of buildings scare you?" Naruto teased.

 **"It's not the buildings that scare me. It's the weapons they are capable of making for their ships."**

"You've still got your tailed beast bomb, don't you? You know, that attack that takes out whole villages at a time." Naruto reminded him.

 **"That was the Ten Tails. And I'll remind you that I only have a ninth of its power."**

"So a ninth of a whole village?" Naruto asked playfully.

 **"Yes."**

"And Starfleet's weapons can destroy a planet..." Sakura mused.

 **"That's my point. For a peaceful race, they sure have some very powerful weapons."**

"Yeah, now that you mention it..." Naruto said as his gears began turning while he parked their car.

"Hey, stupid question, but if Earth doesn't use money, what's to stop a random guy from getting a spaceship and superweapon just by asking for it?" Naruto asked as he parked near the entrance to the main entrance of the Academy.

"They have to be Starfleet officers, dummy." Sakura deadpanned. "A random citizen can't ask for a starship."

"But they can just ask for a car? Although I suppose only a member of Starfleet can be given a weapon." Naruto realized on his own.

"Yeah. So drop it already and look sharp. You have your squad to train, remember?" Sakura reminded him.

"Yeah, can I get a hug goodbye first?" He asked as he stood out in the parking lot with his arm wide open.

Sakura smiled. "Of course you can." She said before wrapping up Naruto in a warm and tender hug, kissing him on the cheek.

"Promise me that you'll call if anything happens?" He whispered as he hugged Sakura back.

"Of course..." Sakura said softly.

"Good. Take care of Kurama then. He gets nervous visiting new places." Naruto joked.

 **"I do not...ass."** Kurama growled.

The couple giggled before share a quick tender kiss and departing. Naruto headed towards the Academy while Sakura sat back down into the driver's seat.

"Bye guys. Love you both." Naruto called back.

"Love you too!" Sakura said happily.

Naruto smiled and waved as the car rose up into the air and took off towards the west.

"Now, let's see what our supposed ancestral home is like." Sakura said as she maxed out the engines.

Naruto looked on as the sports car zoomed away over the horizon. He sighed to relax himself. She would be alright. This was as peaceful of a planet as could be found. Anything happens and he'd know it through Kurama. He could teleport to her side inside of five seconds.

Naruto shook his head and readied himself for his trainees. That's when he noticed the platoon of trainees running across the courtyard in their PT uniforms, being led by a similarly dressed Drill Sergeant.

The drill sergeant noticed Naruto and had his platoon stop.

"Lieutenant!" He exclaimed before he and the rest of his squad saluted the Ninja officer.

Naruto was taken back when 50 men and women of all different types of species saluted him at one. Yet he regained his senses enough to salute them back before they could pass him by.

"Excuse me." Said a voice behind him.

Naruto turned around to see a very old man in some kind of old dress clothes.

"Yes?" Naruto asked.

"You wouldn't be Lt Uzumaki by chance, would you?" The old man asked.

"I would be. And who might you be?" Naruto inquired.

"McCoy, Leonard H. Rear Admiral of Starfleet Medical corp."

"Medical corps, huh?" Naruto stated before he realized something. "Um...should I be saluting you?"

"Don't worry about it, young man. I've heard of your deeds on the Enterprise. Is Lt Haruno with you?" McCoy asked.

"Unfortunately no sir. She's on her way to Japan right now on an important and unofficial mission." Naruto pointed towards the west.

"I see..." McCoy sighed. "When she gets back, I wish to have a meeting with her in regards of her medical skills. In the meantime, I wish to examine you before to continue with your errand."

"Yes, sir. By the way, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?" Naruto asked.

McCoy gave a weak smirk. "You remind me of an old friend...I'm 152 years old."

"Really? You don't look a day over 140." Naruto joked.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere with me. I've been serving Starfleet since before the first Enterprise of the current line was commissioned."

"You served on the Enterprise?" Naruto exclaimed, now genuinely surprised.

"NCC 1701. Originally commanded by James Kirk."

"Wait a minute, THE James Kirk?!" Naruto exclaimed, having read up about the history of the infamous Captain Kirk.

"The very same. I was his Chief Medical Officer back in the day."

"Holy crap, what was that like?"

McCoy sighed, remembering fondly of his prime. "It was never a dull moment with him."

"Awesome..." Naruto said in awe. Now he wished he could have served under Kirk. Picard was an unquestionably capable commander, but he preferred to do things more by the book. Less, escape an alien prison via a gigantic leaping toad, kind of commander.

"Yes, well...if you would please follow me we can get started and get you on your way."

"Sure thing. Although I don't believe you told me why you want to examine me." Naruto said.

"Standard procedure. Orders come from Admiral Paris."

"Standard procedure? For what? I'm just training my squad."

"Any alien species that come to Earth have to undergo a medical examination, in case you brought along any ailments we don't know about. Dr. Crusher is an exceptional doctor, but she lacks detail."

"Shouldn't this have been done when we arrived? I mean we have been here a week and interacted plenty with the locals." Naruto said, a little concerned at Starfleet's lack of urgency.

"Yes it should have been..." McCoy grumbled. "However, Command's attention has been more focused on the Borg and the Romulans."

"Right. Well better late than never." Naruto shrugged.

* * *

After a half an hour and a clean bill of health, Naruto was dismissed to join his pre-selected trainees.

Naruto looked upon the squad of 15 officers that he led into combat over two weeks ago with a stern look on his face.

"Hello again, ladies and gentlemen." Naruto stated without his usual cheerful tone and took on a serious and dark approach. He tried to channel his and Sakura's ANBU trainer that taught them how to be black ops ninjas.

"Good morning, sir!" They all saluted, standing tall and proud as they had long been taught by the military. Naruto walked to the middle of their line and stood before them, tall and proud as he had been taught through his military.

"For those if you who do not remember me, I am Lieutenant Naruto Uzumaki. Your committee of Admirals wishes for you to refer to me as your Drill Instructor, or Drill Sergeant. But I am NOT here to teach you in the ways of Starfleet. I am here to teach you in the ways of the ninja!" Naruto stated, making some of the men look at each other in excitement and disbelief.

"You will refer to me as your Jounin instructor, or Sensei. Do you understand?!"

"Yes sir!" They all responded.

"The training I will put you through is the same training that all shinobi from my world go through from ages 5 to 12 and continue to train for the rest of their lives! I will teach you close combat taijutsu, survival techniques, infiltration, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and chakra control. And we will learn it all in six months!" Naruto barked.

"Yes Sensei!" They all responded.

Naruto nodded as he looked down their lines, trying to sniff out any whiffs of hesitation. He saw some on a few faces. Mostly from the pilot who had joined their squad after his shuttle was shot down.

"Now before we get started, I want to tell you guys about a little group I was a part of before I joined Starfleet. A group called the ANBU." Naruto said as he pulled out a white porcelain mask decorated to look like a fox and held it up for all to see.

"They are known as the ninjas of ninjas on my home planet of ninjas. The elites of the elites. Master class ninjas handpicked by their Kage, the greatest ninja in their village, and trained to be the meanest, toughest, most deadliest professional motherfuckers in God's cruel kingdom!"

"They are the ones called upon to handle the S-ranked missions. Spending months or years out in the field, gathering intelligence, assassinating S-ranked rogue ninjas, infiltrating warzones in enemy territory, and keeping the village, the Hokage, and the Daimyo safe! They are the first ones considered for the most dangerous missions and the first ones to volunteer! Does that sound like something you want to be?!"

"Yes Sensei!"

"Bullshit, I can't here you!"

"YES SENSEI!"

"WE SHALL FUCKING SEE!" Naruto barked. "I will want you now that I intend to push you harder than Starfleet will ever expect of you! I am tough, but I am fair! You will sweat, you will cry, you will bleed, you will shit yourself, and I'm willing to bet only a 1/3rd of you will even make it through the next six months! But if you manage to survive to the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-E, you will be tasked with the honor of building your very own ANBU mask!" Naruto held up his fox mask again.

"YES SENSEI!"

Naruto's scrutinizing came across a woman with short red hair and blue eyes.

"You there! State your name!" Naruto ordered.

"April Uzumaki, Sensei!" She responded, making Naruto's eye flash with excitement that he refused to show to the rest of his trainees.

"Uzumaki?! Are you my long lost cousin?!" Naruto shouted.

"Possibly Sensei!" April responded.

"OH! So you think that means that I'm going to give you preferential treatment because of it?! Make you run a few less laps and let you take a few more breaks?!"

"No Sensei! I expect to be treated the same as everyone else!"

"Oh is that so?! You wanna be treated like the rest of the men? So whenever one of them fucks up, you wanna share their punishment?!"

"Yes Sensei!"

"You God damn masochist! You probably want to be punished don't you?!"

"Yes Sensei! We are all equals here!"

"Oh not you! You get off on pain! The rest of these trainees try to avoid pain like sensible people! You gonna cum all over my deck?!"

April blushed. "S-sensei?"

 _ **'Wrong choice of words there, Kit.'**_ Kurama thought to him.

"You God damn heard me! Are you going to cream your pants and make a mess all over my deck if I keep yelling at you!?"

"N-no Sensei!" April responded, flustered.

"You sure about that? You seemed pretty fucking eager before!"

"Very sure Sensei!"

"You're very sure?! So there's a possibility?! Maybe you'd like it if I sent the rest of your fellow trainees out for a run so that I can yell at you in private?! Would you like that!?"

"N-no Sensei!"

"You sure?! You keep stuttering! You sound like the last girl who creamed her panties every time I opened my mouth!"

April popped a vein. "You got a problem with me you pervert?!" She shouted suddenly, taking everyone aback.

"What did you say, trainee?" Naruto said darkly. Making the whole barrack grow silent.

"Keep talking like that and I'll knock you into next week!" April snapped, blind with range.

Naruto then struck an open palm directly into April's side, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her onto her knees gasping for air.

"You wanna freak out about your superior sexually harassing you? Do it elsewhere. You said you wanted to get treated like everyone else and you broke down inside of 5 minutes. That'll get you and your team killed out on missions. And I intend to save their lives pre-emptively." Naruto spat as he moved down the line.

 _ **'I sense pride in you, Kit.'**_ Kurama thought to him.

 _'What's that supposed to mean?'_

 _ **'Nothing. Except the fact that you seem to be proud that the Uzumakis here have the same tenacity you do.'**_

 _'I do. But I still need to train her on how to suppress that side of her.'_ Naruto thought as he came across the pilot who had served alongside him during the siege on the Klingon base.

 _ **'Right, just try not to rough her up too much.'**_

 _'No promises.'_ "Flyboy! What the fuck are you doing here?!" Naruto barked.

"To redeem myself from my previous performance, Sensei!"

"What makes you think you're worthy to join my beloved ANBU?!"

"I want to prove to not only you but myself that I can do better. For the sake of my family and the Federation."

"Now that's a good fucking answer! Why the fuck didn't you say that first?!"

"I offer no excuses, sensei. Only that I wish to protect the ones I care about."

"You fucking hesitated a lot while we were out in the field together! And now you're hesitating now during training?!" Naruto barked. "Ya gonna hesitate when the enemy will be baring down at you, ready to slit your throat?!"

"No sir." The Pilot said with unfaltering determination.

"Are you sure?!"

"Yes, sir!"

"How the fuck do you know if you've never not hesitated?!"

"I'M POSITIVE!" Sol screamed at the top of his lungs.

"God damn right!" Naruto barked. "Uzumaki! You still here?!"

"Yes Sensei!" April coughed as she forced herself to stand back up.

"Did you hear what Trainee Sol just said?!"

"Yes Sensei!"

"Good! Cause that's how you get a Jounin-sensei to leave you alone in your safe space!"

"Understood Sensei!"

"Are you sure?!" Naruto barked.

"Positive Sensei!"

"Bullshit, I can't hear you!"

"POSITIVE SENSEI!" She screamed.

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Naruto exclaimed. "All of you get in a school circle around me! On the double!"

The trainees all fell in and were ordered to sit with their legs crossed.

"All of you are going to learn the basics of the basics today. For a shinobi, that means chakra control." Naruto said as he held up his palm and created a Rasengan.

The young adults all looked up at the spinning chakra ball in awe. Even after seeing the same technique and many more in action back on the Klingon base, to see a glowing ball of energy appear was still just as impressive as seeing it for the first time. Their lives had all been filled with nothing but technological wonders. Everything that could be explained away by science.

But this…this was something entirely different. An energy born of a man's body they could visibly see. And they were supposed to learn how to do it themselves.

Sol felt like he was being selected to attend Hogwarts. Like in the 7 book classical epic he read as a child.

"The first step is to learn how to harness your chakra that your body produces naturally. This is done through two methods. Meditation and rigorous physical training." Naruto smirked as a few of the trainees gulped at the thought of "rigorous physical training."

"Lucky for you all, we are going to start with meditation." Naruto stated.

* * *

As the Naruto began their training, Sakura and Kurama were flying over the collection of tiny islands near Japan's main island.

 **"Nice view."** Kurama commented.

"Yes, it is." Sakura agreed before looking at her navigational screen. "We're almost there. You might want to strap in."

 **"How much longer?"**

"About 10 minutes."

 **"So do we play I Spy or sing a few songs?"**

"How about you boot up the travel replicator and get us a snack?"

 **"Why, you hungry for something?"**

"Yea, a little bit. Bowl of chocolate ice cream if you please."

 **"No cookie dough, chocolate chips, or anything else?"**

"Hot fudge and peanut butter cups."

 **"Coming up."** Kurama said as he pressed the keys on the console.

"Oh, could you add a side of sardines to that?" Sakura asked. Making Kurama sweat drop.

 **"You do hear yourself, right?"** Kurama asked.

"And? That's what I want."

 **"But sardines with ice cream?"**

"Yes."

Kurama sighed and filled out the order.

 _ **'Damn pregnancy cravings...'**_ Kurama thought in disgust.

 **"Wait, aren't you driving?"**

"I can set it on auto pilot." Sakura said simply.

 **"Then why bother driving the car?"**

"Cause it's fun. Now give me my damn ice cream." Sakura snapped, annoyed with all the questions.

 **"Alright, alright..."** Kurama sighed before handing Sakura her ice cream and sardines.

"Ah, awesome..." Sakura said in delight as she set the car on auto pilot to eat her snack.

The two just sat in silence for a bit as Sakura ate her snack. Kurama looked out the window to observe the landscape pass them by. He quickly grew bored of the view.

 **"Mama don't let your baby grow up, to be cooowboooys..."** Kurama sang the song taught to him and Naruto by Riker.

"Oh you know that song too?" Sakura asked. "Naruto's been singing it a lot lately."

 **"It's a song that Riker taught Naruto and me after we watched this old show Generation Kill together."** Kurama said.

"Ah, well feel free to continue."

 **"Hm... Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.**

 **Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks.**

 **Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such..."** Kurama continued.

 **"Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.**

 **'Cos they'll never stay home and they're always alone.**

 **Even with someone they love."** He sang.

 **"Cowboys like smoky old pool rooms and clear mountain mornings,**

 **Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night.**

 **Them that don't know him won't like him and them that do,**

 **Sometimes won't know how to take him.**

 **He ain't wrong, he's just different but his pride won't let him,**

 **Do things to make you think he's right…**

 **Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.**

 **Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks.**

 **Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such...**

 **Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.**

 **'Cos they'll never stay home and they're always alone.**

 **Even with someone they love..."** Kurama finished.

Sakura wiped a happy tear from her eye and smiled. "Thank you...I love it when Naruto sings that." She said as she rubbed her belly.

 **"I know. Naruto feels so proud when he makes you happy like that."** Kurama said as he kept looking out the window so that Sakura wouldn't see his blush.

"I know he does..." Sakura said softly as she checked the navigational screen again then looked ahead of her. "Japan is in sight."

After a few moments, they touched down in the rather large town of Nagawa, Japan. The scenery was very reminiscent of the Leaf Village in terms of structural design and what they classified as casual wear. For a minute, Sakura could swear that she was back on Element. Albeit an Element that had undergone a major change in fashion sense since she left, but the tiny details were all the same. Couples walked the streets together. Groups of teenagers walked together and boosted loudly about one thing or another. Young parents walked hand in hand with their kids in the middle from a late-night dinner or a movie theater. And shops of all kinds were open to the crowds passing by. Sakura almost couldn't contain herself as she walked down the street with Kurama trotting behind her transformed into an orange golden retriever. One gang of guys saw Sakura walking alone and wolf whistled at her, only to be scared off by Kurama's growling.

Almost immediately, Sakura spotted a familiar looking clan symbol; the symbol of the Haruno Clan.

The only problem was that it was tagged on the side of a wall of a convenient store in an alleyway.

"Odd place to put my clans symbol." Sakura mused as she and Kurama immediately stepped out of the car.

 **"Well what else would you expect from a gang sign?"** Kurama asked.

"Gang sign?!" Sakura gasped in shock. It was only then that she read the inscription underneath the symbol.

 **HARUNO TERRITORY. UZUMAKI'S BEWARE!**

"What in the hell?" Sakura wondered out loud.

Her voice echoed throughout the alleyway and spilled out through the streets, making a few late night shoppers stop and stare at her.

 **"Um, I think we'd better move on."** Kurama whispered to Sakura.

"Yea, probably a good idea." Sakura agreed.

Kurama led Sakura away from that area and down the street. Hoping to run into one of her clansmen.

"I thought this was supposed to be a peaceful planet, but gang signs?" Sakura asked in a hush.

 **"Do you honestly think that an entire planet could achieve peace right down to the individual? No way. Someone was always going to get the short end of the stick and someone else was going to want a bigger piece of the pie."** Kurama sighed.

"On a planet that has no currency anymore? What's there to gain from that?"

 **"Respect, a sense of individual purpose, boredom, take your pick."** Kurama listed off.

"I suppose..." Sakura mused before spotting an elderly woman with faded pink hair, the Haruno clan symbol on her kimono.

"Hello there." Sakura said as she approached the old woman. The woman looked over at Sakura with her eyes weighed down by decades of wrinkles.

"Oh hello there Airi. Come back from hanging out with your friends?" The old woman asked politely.

"Um...my names Sakura actually." Sakura corrected sheepishly.

"Yes of course, Airi. Who is that with you? Did you pick up another stray?" The woman asked, pointing at Kurama.

 _'She must have some kind of memory issue.'_ Sakura thought. Might as well play along. "Yea, I guess you could say that, but he really is friendly."

 **"Woof."** Kurama spoke, feeling like an idiot.

"Well, isn't he precious." The old lady smiled. "Well, you can keep this one. Now come along home so grandma can make you your favorite for dinner."

"Um...tacoyaki?" Sakura asked.

"No, silly. Bajoran Hasparat." The old lady smiled.

 _'Oh no... not that stuff...'_ Sakura sweat dropped. The first time she had that her mouth felt like she swallowed lava.

"Oh boy..." Sakura gave a fake smile as the old woman took her hand. She was about to give the confused old lady the slip when she heard a crash coming down the street.

Sakura and Kurama turned their heads to see a gang of teens maybe a few years above or below 16 kicking up trouble along the street.

The leader, a kid with blood red hair and a matching red bandana wrapped around his head spotted the two women and the orange dog.

"Hey, ya old bag! I thought I told you to piss off this street!" The punk shouted.

"How about you learn to treat the elderly with respect." Sakura glared, her combadge shining off the street lamps.

"Oh lookie what we've got here, boys. Another Haruno Starfleet wannabe thinking she can just flaunt around her badge. But she don't know that this street is Uzumaki territory!" The leader slurred.

"Ooh-Rah!" His buddies shouted.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. "Oh please. That tough guy act isn't going to work with me."

"Really?" The leader asked as he got right in Sakura's face, his smile disturbingly reminding her of Naruto's smile. Albeit less happy-go-lucky and more nasty creep.

Kurama growled at the boy, trying to keep up his dog disguise.

"Yes, really. I've dealt with far more intimidating looks from more qualified hooligans than you pretend to be. Compensating from small man syndrome are you?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

 **Click** went the boy's switchblade as he pulled it out right in front of Sakura's face. "I'll show you small." He leered.

Sakura jumped back and drew out her phaser and charged it up. "Never bring a knife to a phaser fight."

"HEY UZUMAKI!" A voice shouted from the other end of the street.

Sakura shifted her gaze to a person who had dark pink hair before turning back to the Uzumaki aggressors. "I've got this, just stay back."

"The Hell you do. Let me and the boys handle this so no one ends up getting shot." The dark pink haired teen said.

"Ha! You need to count again, Hajime! There is 7 of us and only one of you!" The leader of the Uzumaki gang shouted as his subordinates chuckled.

Sakura looked back over at the lone Haruno boy (although he couldn't be a few months younger than Sakura was) who just smirked and put his fingers to his lips to let loose an ear ringing whistle.

All at once, every door along the street seemed to open and young men and women wearing pink bandannas pouted out into the street and surrounded the Uzumaki gang.

"You were saying, Eiji?" Hajime smirked.

The Uzumaki gang leader didn't even answer before he and his buddies dashed off towards true Uzumaki territories.

The Haruno gang members all cheered and Sakura put away her phaser. Hajime congratulated his buddies before turning to the stranger with his family's famous shade of hair.

"Hello, Hajime Haruno at your service. I know for a fact that we've never met." Hajime said as he held out his hand to shake Sakura's.

"Sakura Haruno." She said as she shook his hand. She then noticed that she was quickly being surrounded by curious teenagers.

"Sakura? We don't have anyone in our clan by that name." One of the Haruno girls said.

"Well that's because I didn't come from Earth." Sakura informed.

"You're not from Earth?" A younger Haruno boy asked.

"No, I'm not." Sakura replied.

"Then how are you a Haruno?" Hajime asked.

"Because on my planet, there was a Haruno clan. Myself and my parents are the only ones left." Sakura informed.

"Oh you poor thing. What colony are you from?" Hajime asked.

"I'm not-" Sakura said before she was interrupted by a young boy no older than 7 running up to Hajime and pushing Sakura aside.

"Boss! Dachi's group is getting jumped at the ramen stand by those Uzumaki bastards! They outnumbered'em thirty to one!" The boy exaggerated.

"Shit, good job Shifty. Tao! Goro! Grab some guys and go help them out! Looks like those Uzumaki sons of bitches wanna fight tonight!" Hajime shouted, rallying up the crowd around him. "SO LET'S GO GIVE'EM ONE!"

The teens all cheered at their leader's rallying cry.

"I can help too." Sakura said.

"With your phaser? Hell no. We don't need to escalate this any further." Hajime stated firmly. "Besides, I'm not about to send a pregnant girl off to fight in some gang tussle."

"I don't need a phaser and don't you worry about my current state. On my world, the Ninja arts are not dead. I'm a Jounin rank Shinobi." Sakura informed, much to the shock of the other Harunos.

"A ninja? Like ninjas from way back in our history textbooks?" One Haruno asked.

"Stronger. I read some of your textbooks on the Enterprise. We're a lot more efficient than the Ninja of old." Sakura said before taking out a Kunai and twirling it in her hand.

"Fascinating. I should take you to my father. He'd love to meet you." Hajime said.

"You're sure you don't need an extra hand?"

"Positive. You don't want to get messed up in our troubles anyway."

"As a Starfleet officer, I feel the need to intervene."

"And you'll find that folks around here won't want you to interfere...although if you could not mention any of this to my dad, that would be great." Hajime said as he led Sakura down the street. Passing by the old lady who was being helped by a couple of the Haruno gang members.

"Alright...I'll do that at least. But why are you fighting the Uzumakis? On my world, they were once a great clan and a kind one."

Sakura stopped when she noticed that she was getting several dirty looks from the other gang members hanging about.

"I'd watch what you say about the Uzumakis around here. Mostly anything positive." Hajime whispered to Sakura.

"But why? What is the deal between you two?" Sakura whispered.

"That's a very long story that my father will be more than happy to tell you..." Hajime said bitterly, as if he was annoyed with having to hear such talks. "But first he'll want to question you on your backstory. Come on, my house is just a few blocks away."

"Alright." Sakura sighed as she was led to said house, Hajime walking side by side with Kurama trailing not far behind.

"So tell me a little more about yourself. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"You know, it's rude to ask a woman her age." Sakura stated.

"Oh please, you can't be any older than I am. I'm just curious whenever a beautiful woman comes across our streets." Hajime smirked.

Sakura blushed. "Well...I'm 21. And for the record, I have a boyfriend."

"And I've got a girlfriend. That doesn't mean that the two of us can't have a nice friendly chat." Hajime smirked.

Sakura giggled. "True."

"Does he have a name?" Hajime asked.

Sakura looked around her before looking back to him. "I'd tell you but..."

Hajime looked at her before looking down. "He's an Uzumaki, isn't he?" He whispered.

"Yes...Naruto Uzumaki..." Sakura whispered back. "Please don't take it the wrong way."

"Hey, I don't know you and I'm not about to judge. But for both our sakes. Please don't mention this to my Dad." Hajime whispered back.

"Right..." Sakura sighed.

"Also...Naruto? Like the fish cakes?" Hajime snickered.

Sakura snickered. "Yea I tease him about that too."

"Was his father an Uzumaki?" Hajime whispered.

"No, his mother was. His father was a Namikaze." Sakura whispered back, causing Hajime to stumble.

"Are you serious?!" He hissed. "The Namikaze's are one of the most prestigious clans here!"

"Is... that a good thing?" Sakura asked.

"Well if you absolutely have to mention your boyfriend I would refer to him as Naruto Namikaze. You might actually get my father to adopt you then." Hajime snickered.

Sakura giggled. "Will do then."

"Speaking of, where is your alleged boyfriend with the hilarious first name? He can't be that great if he'd leave you to wander these streets alone at night." Hajime said.

"He's at Starfleet Academy, training a squad of officers in our ninja arts. He urged me not to go, but I can be more stubborn than him." Sakura stated.

"I'll believe you. You remind me of my own girlfriend." Hajime smirked.

"I'd like to meet her then. We strong women gotta stick together." Sakura smirked.

"Nah, I wouldn't. She's a Nara and lazing as fuck. The only thing she is stubborn about is taking a nap." Hajime laughed.

"Sounds like a Nara I know." Sakura laughed as well.

"Yeah. She's really smart though when she wants to be. She's blunt, but she gets right to what she's thinking without any fluff. That's why I admire her." Hajime sighed happily.

"Sounds like my friend Shikamaru. Sharp as a kunai and with plenty of wit to dish out. Excellent Shogi player too."

"So...wait a minute. You have, or rather had an Uzumaki clan, you're a Haruno, there's also the Nara Clan on your world..." Hajime mused.

"As well as Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Sarutobi, Senju, Akamichi, and Yamanaka. Sadly, the Sarutobi and Senju clans are down to only a small handful of members, my master Tsunade being the last of the Senju." Sakura informed.

"But that's just within our village." Sakura added.

"Okay, this is sounding a lot more than a coincidence here..." Hajime stated.

"That's why I'm here. Captain Jean Luc Picard thinks that the Humans on Element are somehow descendants of the clans here and that's what I'm here to find out." Sakura informed.

 _ **'Hey kit.'**_ Kurama thought to him while walking beside Sakura.

 _'Kinda in the middle of something here.'_ Naruto informed.

 _ **'Just thought I would give you a status update. Your vixen has made contact with her clan as well as yours...however, the two clans seem to be in the middle of a feud of some sorts. When you come here, make things real easy on yourself and Sakura and use your fathers last name.'**_

 _'Um...sure. She's not hurt, is she?'_ Naruto asked with concern.

 _ **'No, she's safe. She's being escorted to one of the clan leaders house to discuss matters of why she's here. We're actually making progress.'**_

 _'Unlike me. It's like I have to re-teach these jokers everything there is to know about chakra.'_ Naruto groaned.

 _ **'Well, think about it. They never knew what Chakra was until you showed up.'**_

 _'True. But it's so damn frustrating.'_

 _ **'Was training your own Genin team any less frustrating?'**_

 _'In its own special way. But those three already knew about chakra. These guys...it's like teaching fish to walk before teaching them how to rock climbing.'_

 _ **'Uhhh...right...anyway, we're almost at this guy's house.'**_

 _'And I'm about to switch over to kunai training. You kids have fun.'_

"Here it is, home sweet home." Hajime said as they stopped in front of a rather large house.

Sakura whistled. "Impressive. I only know of the Hyuga's having a house this big back home."

"Well, wait till you see inside." Hajime said before opening his front door.

Inside was a lavish foyer, complete with a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling, marble floors, carved stone stairs and railings with carved stone pillars throughout the room.

"House nothing...this is like a palace!" Sakura exclaimed in awe.

"Follow me, my dad is in his study." Hajime urged.

Sakura nodded and followed him through the luxurious mansion and down a hallway. Each way she looked, she saw paintings of past Haruno members, including one that looked like her.

"Who is this?" Sakura asked as she pointed to said painting.

"She is the clan's founder. I forget her name, but it is said that she founded the clan over 4000 years ago. Way back in the day, the Haruno clan was well revered by their ability to produce elixir's and other such medicines. Essentially, we were a clan of doctors in ancient times." Hajime informed.

"Incredible..." Sakura said in awe. She had always been praised for her natural talent in all things medical, but she always assumed herself to be lucky. After all, her parents weren't anything special compared to her peers. They were simple civilians working in the lumber industry and the private sector. They were no doctors and no one in Sakura's ancestry were trained in the medical arts before her as far as she knew. Until today that is.

"Some of our clansmen still make herbal remedies, but Starfleet medical science has made them obsolete unfortunately."

"No wonder I became a doctor..." Sakura mused.

"You're a doctor too?" Hajime delightfully asked.

"Yes, I am. I was trained by Tsunade Senju as a medic ninja and then as a Starfleet Medical officer."

"Incredible. A couple of my older cousins are medical officers in Starfleet. What ship are you serving on?" Hajime asked.

"Well, I was serving on the Enterprise before it was destroyed. Now I'm here for another 6 months until the new one is completed." Sakura explained.

That made Hajime do a double take. "You served aboard the Enterprise!? That's like, the most famous ship in the entire fleet!"

"So I've heard. In fact, I learned that my master served on the Enterprise C before it was destroyed at Narendra III."

"Hajime?! Is that you?!" A male voice sounded from the other end of the hall.

"Yeah Dad! I've got someone here you'll want to meet!" Hajime called back.

"Oh really?! Well bring'em in!"

Hajime led Sakura done the hall and into his father's office where the man seemed to be going over paperwork of some kind with his reading glasses. Upon Sakura entrance into his study, he looked up and his eyes darted around Sakura's frame. She knew that look. It was the look she gave all her patients when they first entered into her care. Sometimes she caught herself subconsciously giving that visual exam on people she was just seeing for the first time that day.

"Why hello, I'm Dr. Haruno. And you might be?" The head of Earth's Haruno clan asked.

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura smiled.

"Haruno, huh? Hajime, could you come here for a second?" Dr. Haruno smiled.

Hajime nodded and approached his father.

"Please tell me that you didn't knock up one of your distant relatives?" Dr. Haruno hissed so as not to be overheard by Sakura.

"What? No! She was like that when I met her!" Hajime hissed back.

Sakura, despite them trying to keep quiet, still overheard them.

"Don't lie to me, Hajime. We are not taking this one into our home! Not this time! I don't care if you dyed her hair pink and married her in secret. We will get your marriage revoked!"

"Dad what are you talking about! That's not what this is at all!"

"You bring a pregnant woman around your age into our home and claim that she is a Haruno when I have never seen her before in my life! What is a father supposed to make of that?! I am sick and tired of all your girlfriends and the drama that comes with it!" Dr. Haruno hissed. "I thought you were dating that Nara girl, or was she just another cover-up?!"

"Ahem..." Sakura cleared her throat. "Sorry, but I can still hear you."

"My apologies, Miss...?" Dr. Haruno asked.

"Haruno. And no, I just met Hajime today. He's not responsible for me being pregnant."

"Oh, well you must forgive me for not taking him at his word. We have been through this charade one too many times and I would not have a repeat of those circumstances." Dr. Haruno apologized.

"I understand. No my boyfriend was responsible for this."

"I see. But that doesn't explain why you are here and why you are clearly a Haruno yet not one I have ever met before."

"Because I'm not from Earth. I come from the Planet Element." Sakura informed.

"Element? I'm afraid I've never heard of that colony." Dr. Haruno stated.

"It's not a Federation Colony."

"Um...one of those joint colonies with the Klingons?" Dr. Haruno tried.

"No. We don't even have Warp drive yet. We are under a secret contract with the Federation to provide Shinobi as bodyguards to select captains. Myself and my boyfriend are currently under that contract with Captain Picard."

"Shinobi? You're from a non-space fairing planet? How curious that you have my clan's hair color as well as our name? What's even more astonishing is that you appear human. How is that possible?" Dr. Haruno inquired.

"Because I am and I am a Haruno."

"That shouldn't be possible. Again, to have two different planets produce similar species of life is astronomically astounding. For you to have our pink hair might be as believable if it were a mutation in the human genetic code. But for you to also be named Haruno... It's an incredible coincidence to say the least." Dr. Haruno repeated.

"I can do a DNA comparison if you would allow me." Sakura offered.

"It would be my pleasure to allow you. Please, you can even use my private equipment." Dr. Haruno gestured to the incubators and test tubes stationed on the left side of his office.

"I use them to map out my clan's family tree as a hobby. You're more than welcome to use it."

Sakura pulled out her medical tricorder. "I think this will suffice."

"Very well, fire away." Dr. Haruno said.

Sakura detached her tricorders medical scanner and did a scan of her DNA. The main device saved it in storage before moving onto the Haruno elder. She gave him a quick scan and saved the data to her tricorder before putting her scanner away. Next she moved onto bring up both DNA samples and did a breakdown comparison of each cell, carefully scrutinizing each cell before her eyes went wide.

"Oh my god..." Sakura breathed out.

"What is it?" Dr. Haruno asked.

Sakura showed him the screen on her tricorder. On it, were two different strands of DNA, but while most of it was identical, proving that she was human, there were a few cells that were blinking on both strands, indicating a matching set.

"O-oh my god...th-these are..." Dr. Haruno stammered in shock.

"They are Genetic Chromosomes. Yours match mine..." Sakura said in the same amount of shock.

"My God... that means..." Dr. Haruno.

"What? What does that mean?" Hajime exclaimed, feeling left out of the conversation.

"That Sakura here is in fact your extremely distant cousin, but her family did in fact originate from ours, or vice versa." Dr. Haruno hypothesized.

"And that's exactly the proof I needed to eradicate the Prime Directive on our world." Sakura said as she put her tricorder away. "This has been a long and ongoing theory for decades, but haven't been able to prove it until now. I thank you for helping me."

"No need to thank me. Please, join us for a late dinner. This is cause for celebration." Dr. Haruno said.

Sakura bowed in respect. "Thank you. I'd love you, Mr..."

"Dr. Haruno. Although you can call me Satoshi."

"Yes, sir. I'm a doctor as well for the record."

"Oh, my apologies, doctor. Please, tell me everything about yourself. Including your family." Dr. Haruno said as he led Sakura out towards their dining room, leaving Kurama and Hajime alone in the study.

"Did they just forget about us?" Hajime sarcastically asked Kurama, thinking that he was just your average everyday orange dog.

 _ **'Story of my life...'**_ Kurama thought.

"Whatever, come on boy-er, girl-whatever you are." Hajime said as he playfully tapped Kurama on the tail to get him to follow the Earthling.

Kurama begrudgingly followed Hajime to the dining room.

"So, you are a ninja?" Satoshi asked as he and Sakura sat next to one another at the corner of the dining room table.

"Yes. I was trained as a Shinobi from the age of 5 and became a jounin when I was 17. I was also trained as a medic ninja as well as a Starfleet Medical officer." Sakura informed. "I even became a member of my village's ANBU over a year ago. You can think of them as a black ops branch of my world's ninja system."

"You mean like the Federation's Section 31?"

"Section 31? What is that?" Sakura inquired.

"Um...you would have to ask your captain about that. It's considered as classified information." Dr. Haruno explained nervously.

"Well anyway. My boyfriend is actually training security officers as we speak in the ways of ANBU. He hopes to turn them into a more effective fighting force for the Federation ships to have available to them."

"Impressive...is he a Haruno too?"

"Um...no, he is a Namikaze." Sakura said.

Satoshi had to do a double take. "A Namikaze...?"

"Yes, he is the last Namikaze on our planet I believe." Sakura added. Hoping that Hajime was right on his father's love of the Namikaze.

"Oh my god...the Namikaze clan is one of THE most revered clans here!" Satoshi exclaimed with joy.

"Well, Naruto will be pleased to hear that." Sakura said.

 _'Whew...'_ Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait, Naruto? Your boyfriend's name is Naruto?" Satoshi asked in disbelief.

"Yes he is. Yes...I know what his name means."

"Do you know? Actually, do you still have your universal translator activated?" Satoshi asked.

"No, why?"

"You do realize that we have been talking to one another in my country's native tongue since we met? You grew up on a different planet and yet you are speaking perfect Japanese." Dr. Haruno stated, making Sakura's eyes go wide.

"Really? Huh...I guess I never realized...but then again, if Captain Picard's theory is correct, then our culture originally came from Earth."

"That very well may be the case. You said that you are a shinobi. Generally speaking, the origin of ninjas is unique to the Japanese islands. In many ways our culture is known for it, along with samurais. Yet the practice of ninjas was abandoned as a military tool during the influx of western civilization. Its fascinating to think that your culture is what mine would be if untouched by western cultures and technology."

"90% of my world's populace is a Shinobi in some form or another."

"Really? How is that possible? In our culture, ninjas were simply farmers who hid in plain sight by day and acted as a kind of black ops mercenaries by night. They were less a military force and more of a civilian militia specializing in spy work." Satoshi said.

"Not on our world. Each Shinobi nation has its own military of ninjas. For the longest time, each nation was against the other. They are called hidden villages. Each hidden village has a military leader, or Kage. The governor of each village is a Daimyo, or feudal lord. He financially supports each Shinobi village in each nation."

"You have the Hokage which is the one I serve under. The Kazekage, Raikage, Mizukage and Tsuchikage." Sakura continued.

"Fascinating. Are these Kages democratically elected by the populous or are they chosen by the highest ranking officers in your military?" Satoshi inquired.

"As far as I know, the Hokage is chosen by the village council. Or more accurately, the council decides which shinobi from our village that they wish to nominate and the Daimyo makes the final decision. Although in our history the Daimyo has never willingly chosen another ninja to be Hokage that the council did not nominate for him." Sakura said.

"Intriguing political system..." Satoshi mused.

"Naruto is actually aiming to be the next Hokage...or...at least he was." Sakura mused.

"He was? What happened?" Satoshi asked.

"Starfleet happened. Ever since we started, we've been loving what we do, so when the time comes that our 5-year mission ends, it's going to be a tough decision if we wanna leave Starfleet or stay."

"Well I can't say I know anything about Naruto to make that kind of judgement call about him, but do you really think that he'll give up his desire to become Hokage so easily? From what you've told me it sounds like a worthy goal. Even within the ranks of Starfleet."

"I know...but Naruto has been an orphan all his life and it wasn't until 5 years ago that he was being recognized by the village as something more than an orphan..."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dr. Haruno inquired.

"He tends to stay wherever he feels the most accepted..."

"Is he not accepted back on your home planet?"

Sakura let out a heavy hearted sigh. "He hasn't been most of his life...until recently. Now he's someone everyone looks up to, but, even though he won't admit it, deep down I'm sure he wonders how long that will last."

"Why wouldn't he be? What's wrong with him that would merit others not liking him?"

"I'd rather not say. I'm sorry Dr. Haruno, but I barely know you and would like to keep my boyfriend's privacy. Sufficed to say, he was discriminated against for being born on the wrong day."

"Day?" Dr. Haruno repeated, perplexed.

"Yes, on that day my village was attacked by a demon as tall as a mountain. This wasn't just some local superstition either. An actual demon monster as real as any natural disaster came and destroyed by village, killing thousands. Because of this, the adults associated Naruto with that demon since he was born during the night of the attack. They made his childhood Hell. They have since accepted him, but nowhere near as universally as the crew of the Enterprise has."

Satoshi gasped in horror. "I see...now it makes sense..."

Sakura nodded. "That's why the decision is going to be really hard for him when the time comes."

"Well if you were the only one to decide, which would you choose?" Satoshi asked.

"I... I don't know honestly..."

"Really? Many would think that choosing the world you have always known with your family and friends would be the obvious choice."

"Well I mean yes that's true. I've lived in the Leaf Village all my life...but...I've learned so much while being on the Enterprise...it's like Starfleet is my other family and now that I've discovered I've got family here on Earth that I didn't even know about... I don't know what to do."

"Well I've served aboard my handful of ships for the Federation and I can promise you that you can always return home." Satoshi said with a smile.

Sakura smiled back. "Yea, you are right."

"So enough about me. Tell me about your clan here on Earth. I have so many questions." Sakura stated.

"In due time, cousin. For now, let's eat. I hope you like Hasparat."

Sakura's face broke into a look of horror as Hajime came by and placed a plate of Hasparat on the table.

"What? I thought this was Japan? Where is the food based on my culture? Or your culture? Or... Why is everyone eating this?!" Sakura exclaimed.

Satoshi laughed. "I'm just kidding." Sakura gave him the stink eye.

"I like Hasparat, thank you." Hajime said sourly.

"You can eat whatever you like, Sakura. While I personally prefer a home cooked meal, we have our own dedicated replicator that makes Japanese food in the traditional way." Satoshi stated.

That statement made Sakura pause. "Are you against technology, sir?"

"What? No, I just see the value in the effort of cooking your own food. If you ask me, it makes the food taste better. But I won't shy away from the convenience of it or any other kind of technology. That's what it's there for after all. A tool to ease the workload of the user." Satoshi replied.

"True. So, you have any Japanese dish? Even Dango?" Sakura asked.

"I would imagine so, I don't care for Dango myself." Satoshi said.

"Alright, good. Just be forewarned, I am going through the odd cravings stage."

"I see. How far along are you?"

"Two months. Dr. Crusher said we're having a girl." Sakura smiled. Making both men smile.

"Congratulations." Satoshi smiled.

Then Sakura sighed. "Sad part is...this kid is sucking my Chakra dry. I have to fully rely on technology for work and Taijutsu for combat."

"I'm sorry...chakra?" Satoshi asked.

"Yeah, what's that?" Hajime chimed in.

 _ **'Oh here we go...'**_ Kurama groaned as he ate the dog food that Hajime had laid out for him.

"Chakra is the energy Shinobi on my world use for combat as well as healing. I'd show you, but I'm afraid if I did I would collapse from using what little I have."

"I'll take your word for it. You say that this energy is naturally occurring inside of you. Is it exclusive to you shinobi or can everyone from your planet use it?" Dr. Haruno asked.

"Any human can, actually. Even you."

"And you know this for a fact?"

"Considering I taught it to a 5-year-old on the Enterprise, I would say yes."

The father and son looked at each other with their eyes saying, "wow." Sakura sincerely hoped that they wouldn't ask her to train them in chakra right now. Over 2 hours of driving had tried her out and she just wanted to eat.

"Do you think you could teach the rest of our clan?" Hajime asked.

 _'Sonofabitch...'_ Sakura cursed in thought. "I can, just not right now..."

"Oh, that's a shame. It could prove invaluable to our own medical practices."

"I can guarantee you that is true, but frankly I came here to learn more about you and your clan." Sakura stated. She was not normally one to turn down anyone's request to learn, but the way things were going with Starfleet, she would be asked to teach the entire Federation how to use chakra before long.

"Fair enough...what more would you like to know?" Satoshi asked.

"Well...for starters, and forgive my ignorance on the matter, but why do the Harunos and Uzumakis seem to be at each other's throats?" Sakura asked.

Satoshi's face visible darkened upon hearing this question. Hajime even stopped eating mid-bite. Sakura was afraid she had step on some family landmine.

"That...is a long story. Stretching back thousands of years." Satoshi began.

"If...you don't feel like sharing then-"

"No...as you are of Haruno blood, you deserve to know." Satoshi interrupted.

"Okay." Sakura said softly.

Satoshi put down his chopsticks to ready himself to retell this epic tale. Hajime however kept eating to keep his mind preoccupied from such matters.

"Let's see...to be honest, no one is quite certain how our feud began. Our two clans come from very ancient houses. There are records that Haruno doctors served in the courts of some of the earliest Chinese Emperors before migrating to Japan. Not just as doctors though, as scholars and scientists, learned men. We have always been the thinkers of our time, quietly earning our place on the pages of history. One such notable ancestor was the first Hajime of our clan. He founded a medical school in a Shinto Temple to teach monks how to properly treat the sick and injured. Some scholars believe that it was the first ever medical school in Japan." Satoshi stated proudly.

"I see...so, this is kinda like the Hatfield and McCoy feud then. It continues, but no one really knows how it started or why, right?" Sakura asked, having read up about said feud.

"Well this is only the oldest story shared between our two clans. No one can know for certain if one side met the other beforehand or what their relationship was like." Satoshi tried to explain.

"Okay..."

"Yes, well...Hajime Haruno did not set up his school alone. He brought along his family, a wife and two daughters, along with all his brothers and their families to live with him and the monks. They taught the monks and anyone who would happen upon their temple the arts of their medical science. And whenever a traveler or a warrior came to their temple seeking medical attention, they would treat them without a second thought. It's through this charitable work that my clansmen first came into contact with the Uzumakis." Satoshi said bitterly, as if the name itself was a shard of glass he had to spit out.

"The Uzumakis back then were a clan of warriors. Mercenaries, samurai, swords for hire...they had loyalty only to the highest bidder." Satoshi spat.

"That...sounds nothing like the Uzumakis of my world..."

"Do you know many Uzumaki in your world?" Satoshi raised an irate eyebrow.

"No... the Uzumaki clan was all but wiped out before I was born. But what I do know about them is that they were fluent in sealing techniques as well as a special healing ability that can heal any and all wounds ailments and illnesses. They were also a Kind and Generous Clan back when they were still thriving. The ones who are still around are Nomads for the most part. They have no place to call home."

"Is that so? Returning to their roots I see. The Uzumaki back then were also considered nomads. Like gypsies. They simply roamed from one town to another, wherever there was blood to be spilt for coin." Satoshi stated. "But that is my forefathers talking... Back to my story, the Uzumakis were returning from a great defeat at the hands of whatever foe they were paid to fight at that moment. They came to our clan's temple seeking help for their injured."

Sakura nodded.

"Of course Hajime and his brothers allowed the large party of warriors to enter their temple for treatment. Over the next few days the brothers and the monks treated the Uzumaki men. It is said that the Uzumaki were so grateful that they shared their wine with the Haruno doctors, whom had never accepted any payments for their work before then. The women of both clans cooked up a grand feast, the men drank lavishly, and the children played together."

"Okay...that doesn't seem so bad."

"No, it seems like the beginning of a beautiful friendship between our clans, doesn't it? It wouldn't be outlandish to imagine that Hajime Haruno was about to offer one of his daughters to the son of the leader of the Uzumaki right then and there to cement the friendship between the clans. Yet unbeknownst to the Haruno, a dark cloud was gathering on the horizon." Satoshi said dramatically, making his son roll his eyes at his father's theatrics.

"For you see, the enemy that had defeated the Uzumaki and sent them fleeing towards our temple was still out there. And they were determined to wipe the stain of the Uzumaki off the face of the planet once and for all."

Sakura nodded, urging him to continue while the gears in her head began turning. She had an idea where this was going.

"The night after the party, the Haruno family awoke to the thundering sound of an army at their doorstep. The name of said army has been lost to time, but not what the Uzumaki did next." Satoshi spat.

"Upon seeing their enemies marching towards the temple, instead of heading outside to meet them in battle or flee, the Uzumaki turned our peaceful temple into a fortress for a siege. Trapping not only themselves, but the Haruno clansmen and the monks inside the temple as the advancing army encircled the temple walls."

Sakura felt herself sitting on the edge of her seat while Kurama nearly stood up on his hind legs to listen in close to the tale.

"Hajime Haruno pleaded to the head of the Uzumaki clan to surrender, or at the very least let his family and the monks go. It was spring and the temple had depleted its food supplies. They could never last through a siege. And they were severely outnumbered. Even if every living soul inside that temple was a healthy soldier, they would still be outnumbered 10 to 1. Instead over half their numbers were women, children, pacifist monks, or men too injured to fight. Victory would be impossible."

"Hajime even pleaded with the general of the surrounding army, who agreed to let the monks, the doctors, and their families go free. They would not attack the temple until the innocent Haruno were over the hill and safely in the nearby village with their other clansmen."

"Hajime even offered to take the wives and children of the Uzumaki with them as their own sons and daughters. But the head of the Uzumaki refused to believe in the promise of the general. The temple gates would not open no matter what." Satoshi said with finality.

"The general and his army attacked that night. The battle was ferocious. Arrows sailed over the walls of the temple and pelted the roof like rain from a typhoon. Fires were set along the fields inside the temple. The screams of dying men filled the air all throughout the night. Yet somehow the Uzumaki managed to hold the army back throughout the night."

"When dawn finally broke, the army retreated for a bit, allowing the youngest of Hajime's brothers to escape the temple to find help in the nearby village. They say he ran for an entire day before he made it to the village. He grabbed every able bodied villager with a sword and a torch and brought them back to the temple, but by the time they arrived it was too late..." Satoshi said.

"When they got back to the temple the next morning, the gates were wide open and the army was gone. Inside the temple the inhabitants had been slaughtered to a man. Every man, woman, and child. Even the monks. But not a single corpse bore the Uzumaki's signature red hair..."

Suddenly, Satoshi looked up when he heard the unmistakable snap of something metal. Sakura had gripped a butter knife and her rage caused her to snap it in two.

"Those...rotten...how could they..." She growled in anger.

"I haven't even gotten to the punchline yet. Hajime's younger brother threw himself to the ground three times on grief after seeing his brothers all curled up into balls, having taken swords through their backs, trying to defend their families. This was by all accounts a senseless tragedy, yet as the mob had finished collecting the bodies and prepared to leave the temple, they noticed something peculiar about the temple gates. The wooden beam used to bar the gate was unbroken. Evidently, the army had not forced their way in. In fact, they were let in by the Uzumaki. In the middle of the night, while the Harunos and the monks tried to sleep, the Uzumaki left the gate open and slipped out of the temple without telling their fellow captives. That way, when the army stormed the temple the next day, they would search all over the temple and slaughter the innocent families left behind. Allowing the Uzumaki more time to escape." Satoshi shuttered with rage. "Of course my ancestor didn't know this until he returned to the nearby village and found the Uzumaki clansmen drinking and laughing in the local pub."

Sakura seethed in rage. "Those...bastards..."

"Yes, and to top it all off. Afterwards the Uzumaki clansmen were shocked when my ancestor refused to treat any Uzumaki of their ailments. Which began our clan's feud with the Uzumaki that has lasted for nearly a 1,000 years."

Sakura had to take a deep breath to steady herself. "That's just disgusting..."

"And now you know why we hate each other." Hajime stated.

"It's utter cowardice...had they been on my world, they would all have been killed on sight." Sakura spat.

"Well not in our world. Not back then. They escaped justice and our two clan's clashed again and again throughout history. During civil wars we would be on opposite sides from the Uzumaki. When we were forced to fight for the same cause, our doctors would not heal an Uzumaki who came to us. As the country became more peaceful, our feud turned into a rivalry. Our ancestors would compete in fields of medicine, in business, politics, arts, science, even on the battlefield. Even now after the world has done away with global conflict, our families still compete to rise highest in their chosen fields..." Satoshi said before pausing as if regretting what he was about to say next. "...while at home, the youth of our two clans participate in juvenile gang warfare."

"Yea, I got a glimpse of that when one of them pulled a knife on me." Sakura informed.

"Yes. Thankfully my son only resorts to violence by defacing public property." Satoshi spat at his son's direction.

"Oh here we go again!" Hajime groaned. "Seriously Dad, I do it for the good of the community!" He defended.

"You are merely acting out and it is interfering with your studies!" Satoshi snapped.

"Grandma says that you used to do the exact same thing when you were my age! I'm just carrying on the family tradition!"

"No excuses, young man!" Satoshi snapped. "What I did in my youth I grew out of it and you should too!"

"Sounds like something Naruto used to do. Only he defaced property as a means of getting attention and to prank people." Sakura stated.

At that moment, the double doors to the dining hall flew open and a kid with a panicked look on his face ran in.

"Katoru, what's wrong?" Hajime asked seriously.

"It's Jahiro! Some Uzumakis cornered him and stabbed him repeatedly! He's in the hospital in critical condition!" Katoru exclaimed.

"How bad?" Sakura asked, now in full doctor mode.

"I... I have no fuckin' idea..." Katoru gasped out, not knowing who this chick was either. "Mr. Haruno, you gonna come to the hospital. My brother...he's my kid brother..." Katoru panted frantically.

"Indeed. Sakura here will assist me. She's a Starfleet medical officer and a medic ninja. She's probably more qualified than me." Satoshi praised.

"I appreciate the praise, but if he's in really bad shape then we gotta move quickly." Sakura said before standing up.

"Point me in the direction of the hospital. I can make it there faster than you can." Sakura added.

Hajime pointed his finger in a certain direction. "That way, about 5 miles."

"Easy enough." Sakura said as she took off at a dead sprint out of the house, the others following, but unable to keep up with her.

"Should she be running that fast if she's pregnant?" Hajime asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, but if she really is a ninja, it would probably seem like nothing to..." He paused as they got outside and Sakura jumping across rooftops at speeds that should be humanly impossible. "...her... remarkable..."

"What the Hell is she?!" Katoru exclaimed. "She's like a Mexican Jumping Bean!"

"She...is a ninja. A true ninja...and a Haruno." Satoshi said.

"Dang, you Harunos get all the cool relatives." Katoru said.

"And she's not even from Earth." Hajime said before they took off running. They made it all the way to the end of the street before a thought occurred to him.

"Hey Dad, why aren't we taking our car?" Hajime asked as the rounded a corner.

"Because your grandmother borrowed it, remember?"

"Oh right." Hajime said as they all kept running.

"Are we seriously going to be running for 5 miles?" Kotaru asked.

"Yeah we are! Get with the program, Kotaru!" Hajime shouted.

Meanwhile, Sakura was at a dead sprint to the hospital faster than any human on Earth can move without a means of transportation. She was closing the distance quickly, but she still had a little ways to go.

 **"So what's the plan here? A pregnant woman without access to her chakra is going to barge right into a hospital and demand to treat a patient over all the other doctors?"** Kurama asked as he came up behind Sakura.

"I still have my seal. That should be more than enough to help and keep me even." Sakura replied.

 **"I think you should stick with Federation approved medical treatment on this on."** Kurama said as he leapt over two rooftops in a single bound.

"You can think all you want. I'm doing this my way." Sakura said firmly.

 **"Fine, but when you do inevitably collapse from chakra exhaustion again, I'll only be saving you for the little kit's sake."** Kurama stated.

Sakura didn't answer. She was more focused on getting to the hospital as fast as she can.

* * *

As she was doing this, 11 time zones away, Naruto was at his wits end. 4 hours of constant meditation and his trainees were no close to unlocking their chakra than he was to mastering medical jutsu.

In his frustration, he called for a break. A half hour for the trainees to grab breakfast and to reflect on their training. Yet in reality, Naruto needed to figure out how to proceed with their training.

While the rest of the trainees headed straight for the mess hall, April Uzumaki decided to stop by her barracks and check for messages on her PAD.

Her notifications read that she had 7 missed text messages from Mom-ICE.

 _'Great, what did I do this time?'_ April thought as she opened the latest message. Her eyes lazily traced across the first line before picking up speed. She reread the message twice before checking the other messages and deducing them as irrelevant. April cupped her hand as she read the last message a fourth time.

 _Mom-ICE: Your brothers are in the hospital_

 _Both stabbed_

 _Call me_

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Now before any of you decide to hate on us for the Star Trek side of things, know that it was all my idea. And give us to the next chapter to resolve this properly.**


	17. Chapter 17: Uzumaki

**Hay all, cmartin here. Sorry for us being away for so long. Life has been getting in the way. With me recently, my aunt died and my grandma ain't too far behind.**

 **Anyway, I thought I'd take this time to address some recent reviews.**

 **Habu2010: Glad you are enjoying it! It's good to hear our readers enjoy our fics.**

 **Hanmac: Go for it, man. But just to remind you, Andorian's are not slugs but hey...good way to think outside the box.**

 **thedarkpokemaster: You'll just have to wait and see ;)**

 **Czar Joseph: Yea, as I said...life has been busy.**

 **Kyranus: The Biju will remain native to Element.**

 **Dreaw Mac: Well...it won't be quite like that, but we do promise action in Chapter 18.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: One fresh chapter coming up! It will be ready in a few days.**

 **chuck17: I get where you're coming from, but all of this needed to be established for future chapters. Trust me, while chapters 17 and 18 will be relatively more filler, 19 will be action packed.**

 **guest: Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but yours was like a fart in church. Sakura is a strong-willed woman and in a lot of ways, my girlfriend (soon to be fiancé) has a lot of Sakura's characteristics and I love her with all my heart. Saying what you've just said is basically an insult to all strong-willed women by calling them nasty. That aint cool.**

 **Samuraipanda85: If I could just jump right in here. Guest, I am flattered that you like our style of writing. That said, if you're looking for a Naruto story of ours that isn't narusaku, you're going to have to look elsewhere. I love Sakura and I love the narusaku pairing. So any Naruto stories that I will be involved with will contain narusaku. Me and cmartin have thrown around the idea of a Gohan x Sakura story with Naruto x Videl or Ino. But as of right now, we have only narusaku stories being written or sitting on the back burner. So all I can tell you is to either keep an open mind or find stories that meet your criteria. I'm not being critical either, there are plenty of great authors out there for all pairings. We wish you the best in finding them and we wish those other authors all the best.**

 **And chuck17, I can also see where you are coming from. I like to think that everything we put down has value to the story, but many times that can just be that we added it because we thought it would be a fun thing to add. That's honestly the thinking behind how we write chapters and how we write stories in general. Because we think it would be a fun thing to read. That doesn't undermine your criticism, but what I'm trying to say is that we do read your review and we do take them with a grain of salt. So thank you.**

 **cmartin: So, yea. We take everyone's suggestions and critiques to heart and we will do our best to respond properly.**

 **Panda: Some other reviews that were written after we wrote the above responses.**

 **Drekk: So glad you enjoyed it. And thank you, I think I got most of it out.**

 **SageModeSasuke: It's our pleasure. We are just flattered that we could inspire you and others to write your own Naruto/Star Trek stories. For those of you that like our story concept but secretly loath our narusaku pairing, SageMode over here made his own Naruto/Star Trek crossover with the canon couples. Check it out if you're into that sort of thing.**

 **dragonic raptor: That's some high praise you have bestowed upon us. Praise we are gracious to accept. Also, good eye. We've been more or less aware of that flaw in our earlier chapter for a while but it never seemed to bother anybody so of course we left it alone to work on other chapters. But now that you have pointed it out we don't have an excuse anymore. Plus, the fact that I drew further attention to it in this review reply.**

* * *

The next few moments were a blur as Sakura stampeded into the hospital and assaulted the front desk clerk with questions.

After showing her Starfleet ID, Sakura was let into the emergency care ward where the boy with the stab wounds was being treated. She stopped upon entering the boy's room. He was asleep, just out of surgery, and his vitals looked weak but stable.

Before Sakura could do anything another woman came running into the room from behind her and started fussing over the boy's unconscious body. Evidently this was the boy's mother, whom Sakura managed to calm down just in time from Hajime to arrive with his father and best friend.

"Man... you're fast..." Hajime gasped.

"You kidding? I feel like a beached whale I'm so slow." Sakura said, reminiscing about a few months back when she could have made it to the hospital in half the time.

"Y-you...call that slow?" Hajime said in awe.

"As a medical kunoichi, yes, I do call that slow." Sakura said seriously.

"Astounding..." Satoshi gasped.

"Katoru?!" The mother exclaimed, her brown hair all messy from her ordeal. "What are you doing here? And why is Dr. Haruno with you?"

"Which one? They're both doctors." Katoru said as he pointed to both Satoshi and Sakura.

"Well I don't see what more they can do? My poor baby is already out of surgery so I don't need any more of you poking him full of needles!" The distraught mother snapped.

"That wouldn't be necessary." Sakura informed. "He seems stable now."

"Yes, so please just leave...us...alone..." The woman blubbered as she broke down in tears.

Sakura nodded sadly before she turned to leave the room.

"Sakura, wait." Satoshi instructed as he went up and hugged the woman, who graciously accepted him like a lifeline.

"Oh Satoshi...how could they do this? Why would they do this to my baby boy?!" The mother wailed.

"I don't know...but this has to stop..." Satoshi said softly.

He helped seat the woman in her chair as he took the seat next to her.

The young adults still in the room just looked at their feet, feeling useless.

"Bro, what even happened," Hajime asked Katoru, placing his hand on the guy's shoulder.

Katoru took one look at his mom and signaled for both Hajime and Sakura to follow him out of the room.

"Some of Kailua's friends came to us and said that Kailua got dragged off by some of those Uzumaki fucks." Katoru spat. "When we found him he was laying behind the convenience store slumped up against the wall. A bunch of older kids held him down and shanked him over and over with a screwdriver...I know because the fucking tool was left stuck in between his ribs."

"Maybe there's something I can do." Sakura offered.

"What could you do that the doctors haven't already done?" Katoru said more harshly than he intended.

"Aside from that. There really isn't much more I can do except to check if they missed anything. I was referring to getting some justice for this incident."

"And how can you do that?"

"She's a genuine ninja." Hajime informed.

"How is sneaking going to help this situation?" Katoru asks.

"I'm not your typical ninja of Earth's past. I'm a Shinobi from Planet Element. We're far more skilled and powerful than the Ninjas of old." Sakura clarified.

"Look it doesn't matter. My boys got vengeance for my brother already." Katoru said simply.

"You did?" Sakura asked.

"I did." Katoru smirked a grin Sakura had never seen on stable man.

* * *

Meanwhile, over 5,000 miles away, Naruto could be found inside the head of the academy barracks. He was splashing water in his face to calm himself done.

 _'Come on, I've got to relax. It's fine. I just need to be patient with them...'_ Naruto thought to himself.

He took a nearby towel and dried his face. This was proving to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

 _'Gotta focus._ _These guys came to you to learn chakra._ _You can't let them down!'_ Naruto slapped his cheeks, his confidence reinvigorated.

Naruto made his way out of the rest room where he heard the quiet cries of a girl in one of the bunks.

 _'The Hell?'_ Naruto thought as he stopped and fully opened the doors to the barracks. Inside was none other than April Uzumaki laying on her bunk. She was cursing and struggling with herself.

"April?" Naruto asked, making said girl look up, her face stained with tears.

"Sir?!" She exclaimed as she stood up and snapped to attention.

"At ease...what's wrong?"

"Nothing sir! A personal matter. Nothing that would impact my training, sir." She replied automatically.

"Speak freely, Ensign. Despite my one on one speech with you earlier, I care about all the men serving under me. If you have a problem I would have it addressed in case I could help you, rather than leaving it to fester. You read me?" Naruto asked.

April only had to look into her commanding officer's eyes to know that he was being sincere. He truly did have trustworthy eyes that made you want to believe in this man no matter what the cost.

April started tearing up as she remembered the conversation she had with her mother.

"M-my...brothers are in the...hospital...they're both in critical condition and...t-they... don't know if..." April sobbed.

Naruto had to steel himself. How many times had he heard those cries coming from the field hospital after the war? Even with everything he and his friends had done to eradicate evil from their planet it would not go quietly into the night. Injuries from the battle against the 10 Tails still resulted in deaths even months after the war. Bandits and thugs were no less common. No matter what anyone did, they just couldn't save them all. And the families were always left to suffer.

"I'll deal with the paperwork to get you some time off to be with your family." Naruto stated. "This won't negatively impact your training."

"Sir?" April sniffed.

"You heard me trainee. Now where exactly do you live? I'm probably going to have to mention that in the report." Naruto said without skipping a beat.

"N-Nagawa Japan..."

Now that made Naruto do a double take. "Nagawa, Japan? Holy crap, no way!" Naruto exclaimed, completely shattering April's perception of him as a kind but hardened military man.

"My girlfriend is there right now finding out about the relationship between our two planets. I can teleport you over to the city right now."

"Wha-but sir! What about your duties here?" April exclaimed.

"I'll have a Shadow Clone take over. No worries." Naruto said as he created one Shadow Clone.

"You really don't have to do this, sir..." April choked out.

"Nonsense. We might have gotten on the wrong foot earlier. While I don't intend to give you any special treatment, if you are related to me like my girlfriend thinks (and she's usually right) then I want to get to know my long lost family." Naruto smiled.

That did it. April spilled fresh tears before throwing herself into Naruto's chest, hugging him tightly as she sobbed hard.

"T-thank you..."

"No worries. Just make sure not to hug me around the other trainees. Can't play favorites, remember?" Naruto chuckled.

April realized what she did and pulled away quickly. "S-sorry, sir..."

"No worries. Grab what you need and we'll leave shortly." Naruto ordered.

"I'm...good to go now actually."

"Well then never mind. You know what to do, right?" Naruto asked his clone.

"Got it, boss." His clone replied.

"Alright then. Grab my shoulder." He instructed April. _'Sakura is gonna be so surprised.'_ He thought giddily.

April was hesitant at first, but complied ad put her hand on his shoulder.

Because they were about to attempt a distance Naruto had never tried before, he made doubly sure that he got the hand signs all in order.

"Flying Thunder God Technique!" Naruto shouted before the two security officers vanished in an orange blur of light.

* * *

Five thousand miles away, as Sakura and the rest of the Haruno sat inside the little boy's sick bed, the air in front of Sakura shimmered with a flash of light and out appeared a familiar looking blonde man and a short red headed woman.

"BAAH!" The mother shouted as everyone backed up at the sudden appearance of the two Starfleet security officers.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura stammered in sudden shock.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled. "Surprised to see-Why are you at a hospital?" He asked.

"Uzumaki!" The mother shrieked. For a second, Naruto thought that she was talking about him, but it soon became clear that she was referring to April.

"I don't care what business Starfleet has in here, GET OUT!" She cried.

"Naruto, you best get her out of here. There's been a serious incident between my clan and the Uzumaki's." Sakura said.

"Serious incident? What are you..." Naruto tried to say before again seeing the stink eyes that all the other men in the room were directing at April, who in turn didn't flinch under their gaze, as if she was used to it.

"It's fine, I was just leaving!" April said loudly and spitefully. "Thank you, Sensei." She said before turning her back and storming out of the room.

"Sensei?" Satoshi wondered aloud before glaring at Naruto. "You're training an Uzumaki!?"

 _'Oooh...shit...'_ Sakura thought.

"What's wrong with that?! I'll train whomever I damn well please! Who are you to tell me otherwise?" Naruto snapped, making Satoshi fume.

"Sakura, I realize that your boyfriend would not know any better. But he should know not to trust any Uzumaki in these parts." Satoshi stated.

"You got a problem with Uzumakis?!" Naruto demanded to know. His rage a most being subsided when he noticed the two other mops of pink hair in the room. Including on the man he was yelling at.

 _'Naruto...shut up...'_ Sakura thought, it was a shame he couldn't hear her.

"As a matter of fact, we do!" Katoru snapped as he tried to size up Naruto. "And by the way you're acting so brash, I'd say that you're starting to remind me of one."

"Well good work, genius, cause I am an Uzumaki! What do you say to that?!" Naruto snapped, making the hospital room turn dead silent.

"Naruto...you're an idiot..." Sakura deadpanned.

All eyes turned back to Sakura, with Satoshi's looking absolutely hate filled.

"You are dating an Uzumaki?" He slurred out as of the words themselves tasted foul in his mouth. His eyes gazed down upon Sakura's belly with disgust.

Sakura sighed. "Yes...however, I wasn't lying when I said he's a Namikaze. His father was Minato Namikaze, our 4th Hokage. What I didn't tell you is who his mother was."

Satoshi whipped his hear to glare at his son. "You knew about this, didn't you?" He growled.

Sakura growled. "So what if he is a Uzumaki?! Naruto is the very definition of a hero! He practically single-handedly saved our entire WORLD and thousands more while being out in space! Name a single Haruno who has done that! Not even I could measure up to that!" She bellowed.

Yet Sakura's words would not reach the enraged Haruno leader, who had long since made up his mind on the Uzumaki clan. "You should both go." He said firmly.

Sakura felt hurt by her cousin's words, but she would not show that to him.

"Fine...be that way. Let's go, Naruto." Sakura huffed before shoving her way past Satoshi and out of the room. Naruto followed close behind.

As soon as the couple left, Satoshi's rage turned upon his own son. "As for you! How could you keep this secret from me? How could you that...that-that-that traitor come into our house and eat our food?!"

"Dad, she's not a traitor! She's not even from our actual clan! She's from a whole other planet and you were getting along with her just fine before you learned that she was screwing someone half Uzumaki!" Hajime stated.

"Even a drop is too much!" Katoru spat. "Come on, Hajee, you're the head of our gang. You fight Uzumaki, you know what they're like."

"I fight against the violence. To stop shit like THIS-" He pointed at Katoru's younger brother. "-from happening!"

Hajime glared at his friend and father. "Yet everyone lets their hate of what the Uzumaki's did well over a thousand years ago dictate who they are now...this was never our way and you know it!"

"A thousand years ago?! No one gives a crap about that! What about the shit they pull now?! Attacking our little brothers and sisters out on the streets. Showing up our cousins out in medical school, forcing our uncles to sell their businesses to them! Those fuckers are a pain in the ass now without that stupid fairy tale!" Katoru snapped.

"Forget it, I fucking knew that you wouldn't understand." Hajime said as he stood up to leave. Only turning back once to look at his father.

"I don't know why I expected better from you. Maybe because you're a freaking doctor. But I just assumed that you of all people would want an end to this stupid feud." Hajime said before slamming the door shut.

 _'I need some fucking air.'_ He thought.

Back with Naruto and Sakura, they had found themselves sitting in the waiting room as far away from the Haruno clan as they could get.

"You just had to open your mouth..." Sakura sighed.

"What did I do? Those guys were the ones acting like assholes!" Naruto exclaimed.

 **"And I told you that the Harunos and Uzumakis were on bad terms and to use your father's name. Once again, you don't listen to me."** Kurama stated.

"Kurama? Where are you?" Naruto asked. He couldn't see his demon companion anywhere.

 **"I'm over here."** Kurama said as he emerged from underneath the top of Sakura's hair. Naruto didn't know how, but Kurama had shrunk himself down to the size of a cricket and hid in Sakura's hair.

"H-how...did you..."

 **"Never mind that."**

"The nurse wouldn't let a dog in and my fib that he was my service dog fell through. So we improvised." Sakura quickly explained.

"Oh...makes sense."

"Yes, now back to the matter at hand..." Sakura said before slapping him in the back of the head. "Baka! Now I'M an outcast of my own damn family!"

"Hey! They're not actually your family! And why do you care? You wanna be related to assholes who hate me because of my last name?!" He defended himself.

"I AM related to them actually!" Sakura snapped as she showed him the DNA results on her tricorder. "THAT means you're related to both the Namikazes and Uzumakis here..."

"Wait...really? You mean...you were actually able to..."

"Prove Lady Tsunade's and Captain Picard's theory? Yup." Sakura smirked.

"Well shit, that's great. Sorry I got you kicked out of your family. I didn't mean to do that." Naruto apologized.

Sakura just sighed. "It's fine. Although maybe my theory really is flawed. I mean, how exactly am I related to them!" Sakura gestured over at the Haruno's sick room somewhere on the other side of the hospital.

"I know what you mean. You and your parents would never act like that to guys you've never met. It's bullshit." Naruto said.

"Yeah, same with how there is no way you are related to the Uzumakis here on Earth." Sakura said.

"Personality differences aside...the DNA shows that you have the same blood. Meaning that you have the key to propelling our world into the next era." Kurama interjected.

"Hold on a minute, Kurama. Personality differences, what are you talking about?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"Well it seems that the Uzumaki here are all a bunch of thugs and bullies. You should have heard what they did to the Haruno clan a thousand years ago."

Naruto stared blankly at her, trying to process what he just heard.

"I'm sorry, what?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. A thousand years ago, or whenever, your ancestors from this planet left my ancestors to get killed by some army that was after them, the Uzumakis, so that they could escape." Sakura stated.

"That's the gist of it, yes." Kurama said.

"What? That's ridiculous. No family members of mine would ever do something like that." Naruto stated firmly.

"I don't know what to tell you, Naruto. That's what the head of the Haruno told me." Sakura said.

"Well I want a second opinion." Naruto decided.

"One of them pulled a knife on her when we got here." Kurama informed.

"And I'll go beat the shit out of him later. Right now I still want that second opinion." Naruto said, repressing his urges to go kill whomever dared to pull a knife on his Sakura-chan.

"Okay fine, and just how do you plan to do that?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"Simple. We go and talk to my family." Naruto said.

* * *

On the other side of the hospital, April Uzumaki was busy praying with her mother as they sat in between April's twin brothers; Arata and Sakana. Well technically April wasn't praying, her mother was, but April wasn't the most religious 19-year-old security officer. Mostly she just sat there to support her mother and her half-brothers. April looked up when she heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it, Mom." April whispered before she stood up to answer the door.

She opened the door to see Naruto and Sakura standing behind it.

"Hey...how you holding up?" Naruto asked.

"Fine, thanks again for bringing me here." April said as her eyes inevitably focused on Sakura's hair and her expression hardened.

"Anything I can do to help?" Sakura asked sincerely.

"You and your clan can leave mine alone forever if that's not too much to ask." April said harshly.

"Ensign...that is my girlfriend you're talking to like that." Naruto scolded.

"Naruto...it's okay. If she doesn't want my help, I understand." Sakura said calmly.

"April, if they want to come in, then let them." A woman's voice spoke. It took the two shinobi a moment to realize that it was the Uzumaki mother with the extra-long red hair talking.

April sighed. "Okay mom." April said before stepping aside to let the both of them in (plus one teeny tiny Kurama).

Sakura let Naruto take the lead, she understandably felt like more of an unwanted guest. They both bowed towards the grieving mother.

"Hello, ma'am. I don't know if your daughter has had the chance to mention me yet, but my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I am a ninja from another planet and your daughter's drill instructor."

"Ah yes, I believe my daughter has mentioned you in a few of her emails." The mother said as she looked up to face the pair and Naruto froze like he had seen a ghost.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Although I wish it could have been under better circumstances." The woman spoke, baring a striking resemblance to another Uzumaki woman that Naruto knew.

"My name is Karin." She said as she adjusted her glasses.

 _ **'Kit, she looks just like...'**_

 _'Like my mother wearing glasses.'_ Naruto finished his thought.

"Wait a minute...Karin...where have I heard that before..." Sakura mused.

"You don't remember Sasuke's female teammate from Taka?" Naruto whispered to her. "We captured her at that bridge in the Land of Iron."

A light bulb went off in Sakura's head and she snapped her fingers. "That's it! Your cousin Karin! How could I forget?"

"Um, excuse me?" Earth Karin asked.

"Oh...sorry. It's just that Naruto has a cousin named Karin back on Element." Sakura said sheepishly.

"Is that so? Well the name is fairly traditional in my clan. Although I suppose it is technically our clan." She corrected herself.

"But what is more surprising is that you look exactly like dead mother." Naruto said bluntly. Making Sakura go wide eyed at his proclamation. Mostly because even after Naruto had shared his story about meeting his mother with all their friends, they had never been able to unmask a single photo of her. Her likeness having been wiped from the history of the Leaf village after the Kyuubi Incident. Naruto had always described her as beautiful and now Sakura could see for herself that he had not exaggerated in the slightest.

"Naruto...is this really what your mother looked like?" Sakura breathed out in awe.

Naruto gulped. "Yeah...I mean I think so. I'm actually scared to ask her to take off her glasses for a second to make sure. I think I'd uncontrollably run up and hug her then."

"Um, I'm still right here." Karin said.

"Heh...sorry about that." Naruto said sheepishly as Sakura got to work on scanning the two unconscious boys.

"Hmm...medically induced coma and severed spinal cords...ugh..." Sakura groaned. "You mean to tell me that medical science of this caliber can't fix that?" She asked no one in particular.

"I don't know who you think you are, but this is one of the top-ranking hospitals in the entire Federation." April declared.

"And Sakura-chan is the best medic Ninja on Element who has proven to be better than this technology time and time again." Naruto countered.

Sakura cracked her neck. "Yup. Just give me a few moments and they'll be as good as new."

 **"Except you can't use any chakra since you're pregnant."** Kurama reminded them.

"My seal has more than enough to fix this." Sakura reminded.

 **"And if you tap into it, the baby will just syphon it off too until you're using your own chakra and then collapse like all the other times."** Kurama said.

"The baby isn't going to suck up that much chakra, now hush."

 **"No Sakura, you're not listening to me. You're handicapped. You can't help these little kits with your chakra. Get over it."** Kurama stated firmly.

"Because you-"

"Um...who is that talking?" Karin asked.

The three Elementians looked over at Karin, just now realizing that their conversation wasn't private.

"Um...would you freak out if I said a miniature 9 tailed demon fox that lives in my girlfriend's hair?" Naruto asked.

Karin looked at Naruto like he had 3 heads. "Uhhh...what?" Karin asked.

"He's a being from our planet. Just think of him as a talking fox that can change his size at will." Naruto explained.

"Uh huh..." Karin said, wondering if this guy was dropped on his head as a baby.

"So I believe I also overheard you saying that you can heal my boys, or was that another fairy tale?" She asked.

"No, it's true. It's just that these two are being worry warts..." Sakura grumbled.

"Sakura, I know it sounds like a shifty thing to do, but maybe Kurama has a point." Naruto said.

 **"Of course I've got a flipping point! You want to perform spinal surgery when your chakra network is completely allocated to giving birth to your kit. I've listened to enough of your lectures that Kit here ignored to know that your master would never allow you to do this in your condition."** Kurama stated firmly.

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?! My clan did this, I should be the one to fix it!"

 **"You suck up the fact that shit happens and it's out of your control! But never mind that, it's not why we are here."** Kurama stated.

"Yes, what are you here?" Karin said impatiently.

"We want to know the Uzumaki's side of the story in regards to the feud between you and the Haruno's." Sakura informed.

That threw April for a loop. "I'm sorry...what now?"

"You know...the Harunos had the first ever medical school in Japan, in a temple. Your ancestors took advantage of their kindness. The Harunos treated them, and then the Uzumaki left them to die at the hands of an army." Sakura briefly explained, making April raise an eyebrow.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" She asked.

"Oh come on, you must know..." Sakura insisted.

"I know." Karin spoke up. "Figures that the Haruno would hold grudges like that."

"Wait...so, it is true?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, although I'm certain that the Harunos have exaggerated their side of the story for centuries. It's what my father did." Karin said.

"So, what really happened?" Naruto asked.

Karin looked down at her two boys, their breathing so shallow.

"Where to begin? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to start by saying that our clan's earliest known records have us as a family of warriors back in Ancient Rome."

"I'm afraid I am unfamiliar with that place." Sakura said.

"It was one of the greatest empires in Earth's history. Located in what is now Italy which is south of France. Its territory expanded around the Mediterranean Sea at the height of its power. The entire empire lasted nearly 5 centuries." Naruto said.

"How do you...?" Sakura asked.

"That book on war that Picard gave us. It mentions Rome a lot. Many of the most famous battles in Earth's history were fought by the Romans. But the Roman Empire fell nearly 2000 years ago and their influence never spread farther than the middle east. How did your ancestors get to Japan?" Naruto asked, sounding unusually academic for him.

"Okay...who are you and what have you done with my baka of a boyfriend?"

"Hey, I can be smart when it comes to things that interest me. It's just all the other stuff that bores me so I drone it out." Naruto said.

"It's a rather embarrassing story actually." Karin said sheepishly, eerily reminding Naruto of his mother even more.

"Rome in those days fought in large army divisions known as Legions. Back then, military service was very honorable. People used military service and honors won in battle to elevate their status in society. Our family was no different. At the time of our story, our entire male line was serving in the same Legion. Said Legion fought in the battle of Carrhae against the Parthians and lost badly. 10,000 Roman soldiers, including our ancestors were captured and forced to march eastward to Margiana. Where they fought for the Xiongnu chief Zhizhi against the Han dynasty and we're captured again. This time taking them even further east into modern day China. There they founded the village known as Liqian, or Legion..." Karin paused to take a breath.

"Our story doesn't end there though. After the survivors of the Legion settled in China, our ancestors did not stay content with living half a world away from their homes. They sought to travel their way back to Rome and ended up heading in the other direction until they ended up in Japan."

The trio from Element blinked three times.

"That is just... abysmal navigating..." Kurama stated. Seems that the apple truly didn't fall far from the tree.

"Yes. In any case, once our ancestors had reached Japan, they had integrated with the locals and we're content with blending into the Japanese population. They found a calling in mercenary work in Japan. They would travel from town to town, defending anyone who could pay. They even came under the employment of local lords from time to time. But always fighting and always on the move..." Karin said sadly.

"Okay, that matches up so far." Sakura mused.

"Yes. According to the tales and poems passed down from our ancestors, our clan usually took on the highest paying clients just to feed their clan for the year. Times back then we're peaceful and the men of the clan were not yet skilled in anything but war." Karin said. "This all changed when one poor Daimyo managed to win over the sympathy of our clan leader. The Daimyo had opposed the tyrannical rule of a neighboring kingdom. The Daimyo of that evil kingdom demanded tribute in lands and subjects, but the poor Daimyo would not subject his people to such turmoil. The evil Daimyo sent his armies to annex the poor kingdom. The Daimyo had so few soldiers at his disposal as it was. Our clan was asked to supply the bulk of his army."

"The men all fought valiantly, but unfortunately for the small and noble Daimyo, the realities of war clashed and his army folded after prolonged conflict." Karin said. "Our clan was forced to flee for their lives after the last climactic battle. Which led them into the arms of the 'oh so noble' Haruno clan and their temple."

"Which resulted in them getting slaughtered..." Sakura said.

"Yes, but it's not as the Haruno say. After they healed us and we partied for days, the evil army had surrounded the temple and meant to slaughter every man, woman, and child in that temple. Regardless if they fought against them or not. They were all citizens of the Daimyo who had opposed them." Karin said.

"I have no doubt that my ancestors sought to hold off the invading army as long as they could. Perhaps bleed then dry so that they would withdraw from a pointless siege." Karin added.

"Unfortunately, after a day and night of battle, it became clear that the army would not retreat and was ready to bear their losses if it meant wiping out their enemies for good. So the morning after the battle, we sent one of the Haruno out to seek help from a neighboring village. He promised to come back with help. So we continued to hold the temple." Karin said.

"Now this is the part where Satoshi said that the Uzumakis fled and left the Harunos for dead." Sakura said.

"Fled?" Karin exclaimed. "We tried to stay and fight to the last. It was the Haruno that begged us to flee and leave them behind. They claimed that they would appease the army with their medical skills. Say that the we fled like cowards and the army would have mercy on the Harunos still left in the temple. Our clan leader begged them to let them take the Haruno women and children with them, but the Haruno men would not risk it." Karin said. "My ancestors fled to the nearest village and when word came to them that the Harunos had been slaughtered in their temple, they wept for them. They held a party that very night in the local tavern to honor the Harunos as they would any of their fallen brothers. Yet the surviving Haruno clansmen thought this to be an act of disrespect on our part and never forgave us. From that day forward, whenever my clansmen fought to preserve the lands that the Haruno lived in, they would not even treat our wounded or comfort our dying."

"So... that means..." Sakura said in realization.

"It means nothing." Karin said firmly. "It is just one other version of a story that has stood between two ancient houses for thousands of years. Who knows which version is more accurate or even if either of them are remotely close to the truth." Karin stated.

Sakura nodded. Now she had a better idea of what was going on.

"So tell me. Does the curse of our two houses extend to your planet?" Karin asked.

"As far as I'm aware. No. The Uzumaki Clan was unfortunately wiped out long before I was born. Naruto and his cousin Karin are the only two survivors that I know of. Myself and my parents are the only Harunos I know of that still live."

Karin gasped in horror. "Oh my...I'm so sorry to hear that..."

"It's fine. We were never known as a large clan so far as I knew. We were practically a civilian clan until my parents decided to let me join the Academy." Sakura said.

"The Uzumaki on the other hand were widely known for their skill and prowess with sealing techniques as well as a special ability where in some cases, their chakra has healing properties if an injured person bites said Uzumaki with said ability. Also, a unique Kekkei Genkai where they can fire chains made of chakra out of their bodies to subdue or even kill an opponent." Sakura added.

"Wow, no way." April said as she tried to flick her hand and shoot chains out of her wrist like heavy metal Spider-Man.

Sakura saw this and couldn't help but smile. She reminded her of Naruto a little bit.

"Some Uzumaki are also naturally gifted as a sensory type. Meaning that you can sense the presence of people around or near you." Sakura added.

"Fascinating. Do you posse all these powers, Naruto?" Karin asked.

"Um...no, I don't think so. I only got the Uzumaki life force." He said with disappointment.

"That you know of." Sakura said.

 **"Kit, you might not have realized this, but when you took control of my chakra you gained your clan's sensor abilities. You just never think about them so you don't use them."**

"Wait, seriously?" Naruto asked.

 **"Seriously. Just pretend that you're in your Golden Sage mode or whatever and try to sense life energy."**

"Um...okay." Naruto said before doing exactly that. In an instant if felt like Naruto had taken off his gloves. He could "feel" every presence in the hospital. All those tiny flames of light, some burning bright, others just barely flickering, and even more embers that would one day grow strong. Then he felt Sakura, April and Karin. While Sakura's was definitely larger out of the 3, the other two were nothing to scoff at.

"Well I'll be damned..." Naruto said in awe.

"What?" April asked.

"You both have a higher than normal chakra level. You're both civilians, yet you have the chakra levels of a Chunin or a Jounin." Naruto exclaimed.

Both Uzumaki women looked at Naruto like he had 3 heads.

"Uhhh...come again?" Karin asked.

"Heh. Yet another Uzumaki trait. Above normal chakra levels." Sakura smirked.

"So... what does that mean?" April asked.

"Simply put, follow Naruto's training to the letter." Sakura said firmly. "If you wanna be strong like him and be a modern day shinobi, he is the man you need to learn from."

Naruto put on a fake smile to hide the fact that he had no flipping idea on how to unlock April's or any other trainee's chakra for that matter.

"But...how?" April asked. "How do I use chakra? I have no idea."

"Meditation is the best way. Focus on finding your physical and mental energies. Learn where they come from, how to channel them, and how to combine them. That is how you mold Chakra."

"We've been doing that for four hours and haven't achieved anything." April complained.

"It doesn't happen overnight. I wish it did, but it takes a lot longer than that. And complaining about how long it takes isn't going to get you anywhere. I had to teach my own Genin this. Patience, focus, dedication." Sakura listed off. "Those are the keys to your training."

 **"Didn't you get that little kit to walk on trees the first time you met her?"** Kurama spoke up.

"Who? Oh you mean Sally. That was only because I channeled my chakra into her. Children are easy to teach when it comes to chakra. Adults are more difficult." Sakura said.

"Yea, you're telling me..." Naruto grumbled, making April look down in shame.

Naruto saw this and felt bad. "Still...it couldn't hurt to try."

Then a lightbulb went off in Sakura's head. "Naruto. Channel some chakra into her. She will get an idea of what it feels like and she can then learn to find hers on her own from there."

"You sure I can't take her outside to run up the hospital walls? Cause that sounded like more fun." Naruto said.

"That too, sure. Same concept." Sakura shrugged.

"Um, I have a fear of heights. Could you just channel your chakra through me?" April requested.

"Why not have her walk on water?" Sakura suggested.

"Where are we supposed to find a lake at this time of night?" Naruto asked.

"I know where." April said.

"Okay, lead the way." Naruto said before remembering where they were. "Hey, you don't mind, right, Mrs. Uzumaki?"

"No, not at all." Karin smiled.

Sakura coughed. "Well, then...I suppose I should-"

"Wait, Sakura...I want to talk to you." Karin requested, stopping the medic from leaving.

"Um...sure." Sakura said a little hesitant about what the elder Uzumaki wanted as Naruto and April left.

"You're unlike any of the Harunos I've known, Sakura. I can see in you the kind and caring nature that the Harunos of old used to have. It brings me hope that one day, our two clans will live in harmony." Karin said.

"Thank you...coming from you, that means a lot." Sakura smiled.

"Yes, which brings me to another question. You said that my boys suffered damage to their spinal cords. Could you tell me exactly what that means for them?" Karin asked seriously.

Sakura sighed. "If not treated properly, they could become paraplegic. Meaning they can't walk anymore."

"And you gave the impression that you could prevent that?" Karin asked.

"If I had access to my chakra yes. I could fix everything with no negative side effects."

"And you said you didn't have access because of your pregnancy?"

"Correct..." Sakura sighed.

"And if we were to wait until the end of your pregnancy, could you still heal my boys?" Karin asked.

"I... don't know. I still have another 8 months to go."

Then Sakura remembered something. "Kurama, can't you use your chakra to heal them?"

 **"Me? I'm not sure. I've never used my chakra on anyone besides Kit. And I'm pretty sure I never healed a broken spine..."** Kurama said.

"Could you please just try?" Karin begged.

Kurama sighed. **"Alright...I'll give it a shot..."** He then jumped off Sakura's head and returned to the size of a dog, his nine tails easily visible now.

Karin jumped back at the sudden appearance of the orange fox with nine swishing tails.

"You're a nine tailed fox?" Karin exclaimed, believing them to just be ancient myths and legends.

 **"Yes, but don't be alarmed. Since she can't use her chakra, I'm going to try and heal them myself."**

"I know, I heard you. I just didn't know you were a demon fox. I thought you were just some tiny alien." Karin said.

 **"Naruto is my Jinchuriki. Normally, I live inside him."** Kurama informed.

"What the heck is a Jinchuriki?" Karin asked, thinking that she recognized the word, but couldn't place it.

"Oh dear..." Sakura sighed. "A Jinchuriki is a host body to a tailed beast, such as Kurama here. Back in the day, Jinchurikis were used as tools of war because they could use the power of their tailed beast to cause mass destruction. But now, thanks to Naruto, there will be no more Jinchuriki..."

"That sounds fantastical. Like living nuclear weapons." Karin said.

"It made Naruto's life a living hell..."

"How?" Karin asked. Sakura was about to answer her when Kurama interrupted her.

 **"Yeah, no need to open up that can of worms again. So, I'm just going to try to make your kids walk again."** Kurama said as he stood in between the beds of the boys, still knocked out cold by the morphine. He took two of this tails and placed them over the foreheads of the boys and began channeling his chakra through them.

Sakura meanwhile was scanning the whole scene unfolding with her tricorder to make sure everything was going smoothly.

And it was.

"Stats are improving, Kurama. I'm seeing electrical activity in the lower half of their bodies again." Sakura informed.

 **"Great, tell me when to stop..."** Kurama said with his eyes closed, making sure not to overextend his channeling. Inside the boys' bodies their spinal cords and their vertebrae or getting back together to the way they were before. Shattered bone was knitted back in place, nerves were knitted back together, neural Electro activity was restored.

"Slow it down now." Sakura instructed.

Kurama did just that and could hear the little boys sighing as the pain washed away.

"Okay, that looks good. You can stop now."

Kurama removed his tails and Karin gasped with joy at seeing her two angels sleeping peacefully in their beds. Sakura smiled when she saw this, it was the best part of her job.

"They should wake up in a few hours, but I would let them rest until morning." Sakura instructed. "Other than that, they should be completely fine."

"T-thank you...so much..." Karin cried happily.

 **"No problem."**

"It's my job." Sakura replied.

"What is this?!" They heard a male voice shout from the doorway.

Sakura turned to see an angry red headed man in a business suit enter the room.

"What the hell is a filthy HARUNO doing here?!" He bellowed.

"Kazuo Uzumaki, you stop right there!" Karin bellowed. "This Haruno just saved both our boys from a life in a wheelchair!"

"Yea, I bet she did. I'm willing to bet she's the one who put them here." Kazuo snapped back

"Are you an idiot?! She's pregnant! You just got done filling out the police report, didn't you?! Do you think a pregnant girl grabbed both of our boys and beat them to a bloody pulp?!" Karin exclaimed, her eyes filled with tears.

"Whoever did it, they were associated with the Haruno and I won't have them anywhere near my family!" Kazuo shouted.

"You know what?! It's fine! I'm leaving!" Sakura snapped a she jumped up and made a beeline for the door.

"Sakura! Wait!" Karin called out. But it was too late. Sakura left the room and was quickly followed by Kurama, who closed the door behind him with his tail.

Out in the hall, Kurama pounced on Sakura's head while shrinking himself in midair. He landed on her hair as light as a cricket and crawled his way to her bangs where he wouldn't be spotted by any of the hospital staff.

 **"Well that worked out well."** Kurama said.

"Whatever. I save two kids life's and I get the business end of a prejudice rant." Sakura huffed.

 **"Exactly. You saved the lives of two kits. Well I did, but you pointed me in the right direction. The point is that one asshole shouldn't matter."** Kurama stated.

"Well, it does matter. To me at least."

 **"Oh come on. You only care because that guy is supposed to be your family."** Kurama said, getting to the meat of the issue.

"He's an Uzumaki. How is he related to me?"

 **"Don't you consider Kit to be your family? Or does it not count between you humans without some piece of paper?"** Kurama asked sarcastically.

Sakura looked down shamefully. "No... I just forgot about it for a moment..."

 **"Don't be ashamed. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just curious. I figured that with everything that has happened you would just assume it automatically."** Kurama said.

"Well I've still got to propose, right?" Naruto asked as he snuck up behind Sakura and hugged her.

Sakura jumped. "Sweet sage...where did you come from?"

"Behind you." He teased as he nuzzled her neck before turning her around to face him.

"Haha..." Sakura said humorlessly.

"Yeah, couldn't resist. No, I was on my way back to the room when I saw you walking down the hall and I did what felt natural." Naruto explained.

"So, where's April?" Sakura asked.

"Well your training method worked beautifully Sakura-chan. We found a tub of hot water in the rehab room that no one was using and I used my chakra to help April walk on water. After that she could activate her own chakra with ease. I sent a message to my clone back at the Academy and he sent one back that it was working with the other trainees too." Naruto smiled proudly.

"Well, that's good to hear." Sakura replied happily.

"But what happened to April?"

"Oh she went back to the room. I thought you would have seen her." Naruto said.

"No... I didn't see her. I did see her asshole father though." Sakura said sourly.

"What's wrong with him?" Naruto asked, not liking the look on Sakura's face.

 **"I'll tell you in a moment, let's not open that can of worms right now."**

"Why? What did he say? Did he give Sakura crap for being a Haruno?" Naruto growled.

 **"That's a nice way of putting it."**

Naruto's eyes flashed into slits. "I'm gonna go give this guy a piece of my mind."

"No you won't, Naruto. Just leave it alone." Sakura said firmly.

"No Sakura, I don't care who this guy is. He doesn't get to treat you like that." Naruto growled.

"Naruto please..." Sakura begged as her eyes became misty. "Please, no..."

Instantly Naruto's rage subsided and Sakura fell into his hug. The night's events finally catching up with her.

"There there..." Naruto soothed as he patted her hair. The two of them just rocked back and forth in each other's arms.

"What is wrong with these people?" Naruto asked aloud.

"I don't know..." Sakura sniffed. "Maybe we would just be better off telling Picard of our discovery and leaving these idiots to stew in their feud."

"Come on, Sakura-chan. You don't mean that..." Naruto said.

"Don't I? They both hate each other. They have for centuries. We've got no more in common with them than their names and their hair colors. So let's just leave them to rot." Sakura cried.

"Come on, I'm sure that if the two of us worked together we could help these two clans find common ground." Naruto suggested.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Sakura cried into Naruto's chest.

The man thought about that for a few seconds.

"I don't know..." He admitted. Naruto felt the eyes of the nurses staring at them and decided to relocate them both somewhere private. He chose the first empty sick room he could find and led Sakura inside there. Upon entering however, something seemed off. It wasn't until he flicked on the lights that he realized that the strange noises were coming from the couple making out on the bed.

"Oh shit! Sorry!" Naruto called out to the couple with the red and pink hair.

 _'Wait, what?'_ Naruto did a double take as the couple untangled themselves quickly as soon as they noticed that they had been found out. Naruto got a good look at them and almost couldn't believe his eyes.

"April and..." Naruto exclaimed before getting stuck on the guy's name.

"Hajime?" Sakura said for him after she looked up and saw the secret couple for herself. Said couple broke apart like they had both been shocked when they noticed they had been found out. The two couples just stared at each other for a few seconds, with looks of horror on all of their faces.

"Uhhhh...h-hey..." Hajime stammered, hoping to break the tension, but Sakura had her eyes fixed on the other woman in the room. Sakura saw red as she glared at April.

"You mean after all the BS you gave me about being a Haruno and we catch you with your tongue down his throat?!" She snapped.

April just blushed and looked away shamefully, afraid to look at her.

"Wait a minute, Sakura-chan. This could be a good thing." Naruto said.

"How is this a good thing?!" Sakura snapped, feeling so frustrated at the moment.

"This could help unify the two clans. Think about it."

Sakura did think about it and the gears started turning. Her eyes went wide.

"This could be the common ground we were looking for." She said.

"Ummm...we're still here, ya know." Hajime interjected.

The other cross clan couple snapped out of their excited daze and looked at their friends sheepishly.

"Whoops, sorry about that. But I think you two have some explaining to do." Naruto said as he shut the door behind them.

"Yea, I thought you said you were dating a Nara." Sakura said.

"Oh that was a front relationship. A double front one actually. This way her parents don't get wise to her dating an Inuzuka." Hajime explained.

"Huh...Uzumaki and Haruno love must be a universal thing in some cases." Sakura mused. "But anyway, how long has this been going on?"

"First off, it absolutely isn't a universal thing. I don't know if you have noticed, but nobody has been exaggerating how much they hate each other." April said. "Second...it's been going on for...holy crap, was this our 3-year anniversary?" She asked Hajime.

"4th, actually." Hajime corrected.

"Woah...that blows ours away. We've only been dating for 2 months." Naruto said.

"4 years?! Where did the extra year come from?!" April exclaimed.

"We started when we were 15, remember?"

"Well I think I'd remember and extra year of secret dating." April said.

"Yes, except you served on the Enterprise for a year. We were apart for that time, but I counted it."

"Moving right along. How did this happen?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, we met in Starfleet Academy together when we were 14. At first we hated each other because of our clan rivalry, but after several months of living together in a Cadet dormitory, we kinda grew on one another." April said fondly.

"Yeah, I always used to show her up on exams while she beat my records on the obstacle course and pulled pranks on me." Hajime said.

"You pulled pranks on me first." April huffed.

"It was an innocent panty raid. And a complete coincidence that I picked your drawers." Hajime defended.

"Yea, I bet. You were always a perv." April scoffed.

"You were the one that stole my boxers as revenge." Hajime countered. "And then wore them in front of me."

April blushed. "I...uh...I d-dont know what you're talking about."

"Don't you? Because I distinctly remember seeing you sit down in front of me during advanced Astro-chemistry and seeing my boxers stick out of your pants."

April's cheeks were beet red.

"If anyone's the pervert here, you are. I may have taken your panties, but I didn't wear them." Hajime smirked.

"You already stole my panties and I needed something clean to wear. And WHY were you looking at my ass anyway, huh?!" April countered.

"You haven't complained about it lately." Hajime stated.

"And you have since worn my panties!" April snapped.

"Okay, we need to get this back on track here." Sakura said, her face also beet red.

 **"Please."** Kurama said, his ears pointed down so he wouldn't have to hear anymore.

"Look. We eventually started hanging out and then dating because the forbidden element made it really hot. A few years went by, April got assigned as a security officer on the Enterprise and I stayed back on Earth to finish my medical degree so that I could join her on the same ship. We would work together for a few more years, see where things go, and then maybe settle down on a Federation colony as far away from Earth as possible." Hajime said.

"Well, our world has plenty of room." Naruto offered.

"I thought your world was a non-warp world?" Hajime asked.

"For now." Sakura replied. "With the evidence of our two worlds being linked, the Prime Directive won't exist for our world."

"Okay, but that doesn't mean that your world will instantly be welcomed into the Federation. The government will have to form a committee to review your findings and confirm it themselves. Then they review your species and their value in joining the Federation. For a non-warp planet, this takes years. And that is not including the trickle down policy when it comes to letting the populous know about the existence of life on other planets. It could be a decade before the first...what did you call them...Elementians besides yourselves leave the planet and other species like us are allowed to settle on Element." Hajime said.

"That would be true, if our world wasn't already secretly contracted by the Federation to provide Shinobi in exchange for technology." Sakura countered.

"Wait, seriously?" April asked.

"That would definitely speed up the process. Although I can't be sure. This has never happened before in the Federation's history." Hajime said.

"Right, so moving along. I believe you said you two have been dating for two months?" April asked.

"Well it's closer to 3 now." Sakura replied.

"Anyone before you two?"

Sakura sighed. "Yes...I used to date an Uchiha and Naruto a Hyuuga."

"An Uchiha and Hyuga? Are those two clans both stuck up pricks on your world like they are on ours?" Hajime asked.

"Big time..." Naruto and Sakura groaned.

"And are they as close as our versions are?"

"No, not particularly. The Uchiha clan was wiped out maybe 13 years ago down to a handful. The Hyuga is still thriving, but both sides will tell you that they are the strongest clan. As far as I can tell they have always been like that." Naruto said.

"Oh, because the ones we have on Earth might as well be one clan. You always hear about the Uchiha pairing up with the Hyuga and vice versa. How they managed to stay two separate clans I will never know." April said.

"Yea, that's a sharp contrast to the ones on our world. Although, the way you described the Nara Clan, Hajime, they sound like carbon copies of our Nara Clan." Sakura stated.

"Why, are they lazy butts too?" April asked.

"Yes, they are very much so, but super smart."

"Same. I think it's to compensate for their overly athletic buddies the Akimichi." Hajime mused.

"Wait...overly athletic?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Yeah. Their clan philosophy is sound body, sound spirit. Or something like that. Now you can never watch the Olympics without seeing a few Akimichi represent Japan." April shrugged.

Sakura and Naruto just blinked.

"Ooookay...that's another sharp contrast." Sakura commented

 **"This is starting to get comical."** Kurama said, making the two Earthlings jump.

"Who...who said that?" Hajime asked.

 **"That was me."** Kurama said as he pushed aside the bangs atop Sakura's head.

"Holy shit. I thought you were Naruto talking in a deep voice." Hajime stammered.

"Oh hey its Kurama!" April said happily. "He's the one I told you about that slaughtered a bunch of Tolmeekians on that Klingon Outpost."

 **"Hey April."** Kurama waved.

"B-but you said he was big enough to eclipse the sky. This little guy looks like he could fit in your pocket!" Hajime stammered.

 **"I can change my size at will."** Kurama stated.

"I see...I assume that is because of chakra?" Hajime asked.

 **"Basically yes."**

"He's made purely of Chakra." Naruto informed.

"But he can walk and talk. I thought chakra was energy." Hajime said.

"It is energy. Energy that can create life. Hence Kurama." Naruto explained.

"Oh...huh..." Hajime mused.

"Does that mean that I will be able to create a being like Kurama?" April asked excitedly.

"With a summoning Jutsu." Sakura said.

"Huh?" April asked.

"Naruto? Could you do the honors?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded. He bit his thumb enough to draw blood, making sure to let April get a good view of the summoning ritual. He then flashed through the hand signs Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram before slamming his palm down on the hospital floor.

"Summoning Jutsu!" He cried as runes spread out across the floor and a cloud of smoke exploded outward. When the smoke cleared, a tiny little orange and pink toad appeared.

"Yo, wazzup?" The little frog with a black vest asked.

"Woah! Cool!" April said in awe.

"Um, I'm sorry, I don't recognize you." Naruto admitted.

"Of course you wouldn't recognize me. I'm Chief Gamakichi's daughter Gamachiro." The toadette ribbited.

"Aw, no kidding?! Sweet! How's your dad doing anyway?" Naruto asked.

"He's good. Leading all the Toads is really stressful, but Uncle Gamatatsu is helping out where he can." Gamachiro said.

"Okay, this is really fascinating and all, but it's not at all what I meant when I asked if I could create life. I meant a new being completely of my own design." April said.

"No, you can't." Sakura said. "This is as close to that as you're going to get."

"Well..." Naruto interjected. "You can...but it is way too advanced for a beginner. Some shinobi train their entire lives and can never achieve that level."

"Can you?" April asked.

"Maybe at one time, but I can't now." Naruto said vaguely.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hajime asked.

 **"It means that Kit here once reached the peak of the powers of chakra. And like all peaks everything afterwards was downhill. But trust me when I say that he is still head and shoulders above every other shinobi living on Element."** Kurama said.

"Woah..." Hajime breathed out in awe.

"Right...now then...how are we going to explain this to the clan heads?" Sakura asked.

"Explain? We aren't going to explain anything. Didn't you see how our parents reacted when they learned you two were going out? They don't even know you two. They'll kill us." April said.

"Would you rather they find out about it later?" Sakura asked, completely serious. "If there is one thing that I've learned is that parents will eventually find out where their children have been running off to. And when that happens, it will be a lot worse than you telling them what's going on."

"That was why we came up with the brilliant plan to date in secret and disappear forever if it ever gets serious." April explained.

"And how is that going to work?"

"Like I said. We would go live on a Federation planet as far away from Earth as we could. I would work at a hospital." Hajime said.

"And I would be the drop dead trophy wife/soccer mom who would occasionally get bored of how routine life gets and would go on a tour of duty as a security officer for Starfleet." April added.

"So it's that simple to you, is it?"

"What do you want us to do? Our families don't just hate each other; they love hating each other. They have been doing it for two thousand fucking years!" Hajime exclaimed. "It's not like we can just throw a dinner party between the two families and smooth our tensions once and for all."

Naruto and Sakura just smirked.

April gulped. "Y-you're not seriously thinking that-"

"Oh yea." Sakura confirmed.

"That's seriously crazy, you guys." Hajime exclaimed.

"That's a part of being a ninja. Diving head long into crazy shit." Naruto smirked. Sakura nodded to confirm what Naruto said.

"Guys...it's impossible..." April stammered, making the two shinobi laugh.

"Do you have any idea how many times someone told us something was impossible?" Naruto chuckled.

"Oh man...if I had a Ryo for every time I heard that." Sakura snickered.

"Well I don't know how you plan on convincing them to break bread with each other. Both our parents hate you, remember?" Hajime said.

"We could always try the old bait and switch." Naruto suggested.

"Oh yes! We haven't done that one in a while." Sakura grinned a grin that could rival Naruto's.

April gulped. "What is the bait and switch, dare I ask?"

"Well it's like when me and Sakura-chan were on an ANBU mission together. It was flu season, so we got assigned a double mission. There was a crime family out in the mountains that requested the assassination of the head of their rival crime family's head. It just so happens that at the same time, the other crime family ordered an assassination of their rival's clan head. So we had to assassinate two crime lords at once. Rather than sneak into both their houses at night and get the job done in two days, we hatched an elaborate plan to get both families to attend the same dinner together. We sent them both a letter that said...was it that the other clan wanted to make peace, or was it that they were invited by the mayor of their village?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"Oh man...that was...what, a year ago now? Um... think we said it was a dinner invitation by the Mayor."

"Right. So obvious it wasn't, we got both heads of the clan and a sizable number of their family members inside a rented out ballroom. We even had them think it was a masked dinner so neither of them knew they were interacting with their sworn enemies. Sakura-chan then slipped a slow acting poison into both their drinks. We locked the doors, turned on the lights, both gangs freak out and start fighting one another while their bosses slip into comas and died. By morning, the local police force arrested the surviving gang members still trapped in the ballroom and charged them with destruction of private property. The reward money from the mayor for helping rid the mountains of those crime families helped make up for the loss after the surviving family members refused to pay the Leaf for our services." Naruto finished.

Both Hajime and April went blue in the face.

"Oh, but don't worry. we won't be using any poison." Sakura quickly clarified.

"I mean unless it comes to that." Naruto teased.

Sakura smacked him upside the head. "Zip it, Baka."

"Ow...alright, kidding." Naruto laughed.

"Yea, lets...not kill anyone, please." Hajime sweat dropped.

"I usually try not to. But those crime jerks had it coming." Naruto said.

"That they did, but this is a lot more sensitive." Sakura stated.

"Cause I literally saw one of them kick a puppy." Naruto muttered to himself.

"Yea well...that's not as bad as what I saw one of them do to a toddler."

"Oh was it when one of them spat on a baby? Because I remember you telling me that and I can't remember who was hold who back from killing that asshole in the street."

"No... the other one...the one who threw the kid into the river..." Sakura grumbled at the memory.

"Oh yeah...those were some really fucked up individuals." Naruto mused.

"Yea...they were..."

"Ahem..." April cleared her throat.

"Oh right, we keep getting off track. So do you guys think that we should try invite from the mayor or the other clan wants to bury the hatchet?" Naruto asked.

"Uh...well if you guys think this will work then I would go for an invite from the mayor...if we had one." Hajime said.

"Hmm...yea that is a problem..." Sakura mused, then she had an idea. "Who is the highest ranking Starfleet officer here?"

"What here? In Japan?" Hajime asked.

"No, in this village." Sakura corrected.

"Uh, that would be Admiral Sulu." April informed.

Sakura went wide eyed. "Y-you mean...THE Icaru Sulu?! The one who served under Captain Kirk?!" She exclaimed.

"Who is Sulu?" Naruto asked.

"He was the famous helm officer who served on the Enterprise under Captain Kirk and later became captain of the USS Excelsior! He's a legend!"

"So what? Do we call him and ask for help or will we just use his name to set this whole thing up?" Hajime asked.

"I can call in a favor. He's actually my great uncle." April stated.

"Yea...yeah I'm sure he is..." Sakura sighed.

"No seriously. He married an Uzumaki 70 years ago."

"Well damn if that isn't...wait, wouldn't the Harunos hate him of he married an Uzumaki?" Naruto asked.

"No, simply because he helped rejuvenate the village." April informed.

"That's kind of counter-intuitive to everything we have seen so far." Sakura said.

"Maybe, but he's a local hero to the village so every clan looks up to him. The Haruno's were a little at odds as to why he chose an Uzumaki as a bride but even they look past that simply because of what hes done for us and the Federation."

"If that's the case, then there is hope after all." Naruto smiled.

"Just let me give him a call. Mind you, he's 149 years old so he's not as spry as he used to be." April said before pulling out her communicator.

* * *

3 days later, the preparations were all set up. The town's ballroom had been rented out, Naruto's Shadow Clones had set up the decorations, and Admiral Sulu had agreed to send both families a letter offering them a dinner on behalf of Starfleet to honor April Uzumaki and Hajime Haruno respectively for their deeds in the Academy and in serving aboard the Enterprise. He had even mentioned that it was a masked ball just to spice up the evening.

Now Sakura and Naruto stood on the catwalk overlooking the dining tables arranged around the ballroom dancefloor. They were each dressed in their Starfleet dress uniforms with their masks handing off the sides of their heads.

"Looks like everything is prepared." Naruto said.

"Looks like it. Good thinking using our ANBU masks." Sakura said.

"Might give us away during the mingling, but I figure we wouldn't get another chance to break out our masks for some time." Naruto smirked.

"True. Hence why I agreed to it."

Sakura slipped on her mask and Naruto noticed a distinct change in the style.

"Uh, Sakura-chan? Wasn't your ANBU mask a pink cat?"

"Yes, but that was back when I was dating Sasuke. He liked cats I believe you'll remember." Sakura smirked from behind her mask.

"And now you have a pink...fox?" Naruto asked, getting a little excited.

"Vixen actually." Sakura smirked.

"Awesome..."

"I thought you might like it." She smiled.

"I love you..."

"I love you too...my big strong fox..." Sakura purred.

"Oh man..." Naruto said in a low growl. "K-keep it dry until later..."

"No promises."

The two embraced each other before dimming the lights and waiting for the guests to arrive.

* * *

At 9 PM on the dot, the first guests began arriving. The Haruno entered through the west gate while the Uzumaki entered through the east gate. Both parties were wearing their masks as was instructed and Naruto had placed transformed Shadow Clones into the ballroom to look like early birds, helping the two flavors of clansmen to mingle with one another without asking any questions. The ballroom was so dark and the lights colored a certain way so that no one could tell another person's hair color from their own.

By 9:30, the clan heads had arrived and took a seat next to Sulu up on the front table with his wife. Naruto and Sakura could only smile as they saw the two clan heads talking animatedly about whatever it was they talked about while the Tenchi duo stood and watched from the dance floor.

"You guys, I think it's working..." April smiled as she came up on the Tenchi couple. She was wearing her owl mask.

Hajime came up from the other side and was wearing a monkey mask.

"I hope so." Naruto said as the music played and people mingled.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Do you wanna dance before the big reveal?" Naruto asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Don't have to tell me twice. Let's show them how a pair of Ninjas cut a rug." Sakura replied.

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered as he pulled Sakura onto the dance floor by the hand.

The song playing was something Hajime and April called Electric Swing. Neither shinobi knew if it was there thing, but it was certainly catchy as fuck.

Naruto followed the example of all the other couples on the dance floor and twirled Sakura around by her hand. They both laughed as they kicked their legs out one after another, dipping and twirling and generally not knowing what the Hell they were doing. But it was certainly fun as all get out.

"Hey, they're not bad." April commented.

"Yeah, you're right..." Hajime said as he looked down at April's hand then back over at their parents sitting at the head tables looking out at the dance floor.

 _'Fuck it.'_

"Hey...wanna dance?" Hajime asked.

April was taken aback at first, but then smiled behind her mask. "Playing dangerously, huh?"

"More like I'm privately telling our parents to go fuck themselves. I wanna dance with my girlfriend." Hajime said in a husky voice.

"Same...let's go."

At the Admiral's table, there was an elder Uzumaki and Haruno that liked at the ANBU masked couple and realized something.

"I've seen those masks before..." One of them spoke.

"Same, but who are they?" The other asked.

"Judging by their uniforms, I believe they are Starfleet Officers." Sulu spoke.

"Do you know who?" One of the elders asked.

"No... but that is the fun behind this party, is it not?" Sulu smirked.

"I suppose..." The Haruno elder said warily.

"Forgive me if I seem skeptical." The Uzumaki elder said.

Sulu just sighed as he sipped his Captain Morgan. He knew who those two really were thanks to his niece, but he had to wait until it was time for the unveil.

"More to the point. You didn't tell me that we would be celebrating with another family, Sulu. Not to be rude, but I don't make a habit of dining with strangers." The Haruno elder said.

"Neither have I... the first time I met a Klingon was a troublesome time for myself and my crew, but I always kept an open mind." Sulu replied fondly.

"What is that supposed to mean, sir?" The Uzumaki elder asked.

"It means that, despite being so different from one another, regardless of what one's past is like, open mindedness and forgiveness forges bonds stronger than any force that man or otherwise can create." Sulu wisely stated.

The two elders looked at the aging admiral in awe. Such wisdom from a man such as his stature was almost unheard of. In truth, they were contemplating deeply about his words and letting them sink in.

Sulu looked at both gentleman and smiled. His phase was completed.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Sulu said politely as he stood up and left the two men to their own devices. He made his way towards the bathrooms and out of sight from the clan heads.

"Papa Zulu to Ten and Chi. The seeds have been sowed. I repeat, the seeds have been sowed." Sulu whispered into his combadge.

Naruto and Sakura meanwhile heard him while they were finishing a 3 and 1/2 midair twist.

"Acknowledged." Sakura whispered back as Naruto caught her and set her back on the floor. Then she signaled to April and Hajime that it was time to put their plan into action.

The Earthling couple made their way over to their positions while Naruto and Sakura finished up their last dance and headed for the stage situated behind the head table.

Naruto signaled for the DJ to tone it down and he spoke into the microphone.

"HEY ALL YOU PARTY PEOPLE! YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME?!" His voice echoing all throughout the dancehall.

The crowed of partiers cheered in response.

"ALL MY LADIES SAY YEEEAAAHHH!"

"YEEEAAAAHHHH!" The girls cheered.

"ALL MY FELLAS SAY OH YEEEAAAHHH!"

"OH YEEEAAAAHHHH!"

"Hey that's great, because we have an announcement!" Naruto cheered. Everyone quieted down to hear what that announcement was.

"Everyone, we've all had a great time, tonight right? Had some good food, danced with some strangers we turned into friends. All good stuff." Naruto said, earning a plethora of agreeing mutters.

"Well now we get to learn who those friends are. On the count of three, everyone take off their masks."

Everyone nodded and reached for their masks, albeit hesitantly

"In 3...2...1!" Naruto shouted as he and Sakura pulled off their masks along with all the other guests. As they were doing this, Hajime and April hit the house lights, flooding the ballroom with light. The guests all looked up from their masks one by one and looked around. Girls saw the guys they were dancing with. Guys saw the others they were drinking with. The Uzumaki clan leader and the Haruno clan leader looked over at the friend they were eating with and discovered that he was his sworn enemy.

"What the hell...?" Went a collective gasp. That was when they all spotted Hajime and April, in very close proximity to one another and holding hands.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Satoshi bellowed in rage.

"APRIL! YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM THIS INSTANT YOUNG LADY!" April's father shouted.

"No dad! I will not! I love him with all my heart!" April snapped defiantly.

"That's right! You all got along with your so called rival clansmen. Without your different names, different shades of hair color, and stupid clan rivalry all that you have left is friends you haven't met yet!" Naruto lectured as his speech was completely overshadowed by April and Hajime's announcement.

"Same with me, dad! I'm the heir to the Haruno clan and I love April Uzumaki with all of my heart!" Hajime bellowed.

Satoshi could only see red. "You...you ungrateful, shameless little PUNK! How DARE you betray your family!" He growled.

"I didn't betray anyone! I still love my family! The only difference is that my love extends to April now! It has since I was 15!" Hajime argued.

"What..." Satoshi seethed with rage.

"That's right! Ever since we were in the Academy together! We hung out through mutual friends and I learned that she was really cool! She wasn't just the bitch who led the Uzumaki gang, she was a tomboy who loved tiny little animals, whose cheeks got all puffy when she missed out on fresh toast for breakfast or lost a sports game! I looked past her beautiful red hair and the deeds done by her family and got to know a woman I want to spend the rest of my life with!"

Satoshi just snarled.

That was when Kazuo stood up. "April...is this really the path you are choosing?"

"It is." April said firmly.

Kazuo sighed heavily. "Then I have no choice...you are banished from the Uzumaki house..."

"What?! You can't do that!" A younger clansman shouted at the Uzumaki head.

"The Hell he can't! She's a traitor!" Another clansman shouted.

"What? Cause she's the first Uzumaki to ever have good taste in men?!"

"A slut can find a good man the same way a broken clock is right twice a day!"

"You son of a bitch! All of you!"

The arguing went back and forth before the first punch was thrown and the flood gates opened. Clansmen and women from both sides turned on each other. Men threw punches at other men. Some grabbed their attackers by their ties and kicked their shins. Women pulled on each other's hair and spin kicked each other in the face. In the distance, Sakura saw the old Haruno woman she met when she first arrived hitting one of the Uzumaki gang members with a chair. It was pandemonium.

"Kill the lights!" Naruto shouted.

Miraculously, someone obeyed and the ballroom fell into darkness. The sounds of a riot could still be heard through the pitch black, coming from every direction.

"Naruto?! This isn't working out like we'd hoped!" Sakura called out.

"Don't worry, this is plan B!" Naruto shouted next to her as he intercepted a crazy party goer coming after her with a silver tray. Naruto quickly used his sensing of the man's malicious intent to block the man's elbow mid swing and sent him back into the moss pit with a swift kick to the rear.

"Naruto we don't have a plan B!" Sakura said as she caught a wine glass and chair being thrown at Naruto's head.

"I just thought of it! Don't worry, it'll work!" Naruto called out as he stopped a little kid from stabbing his knees with a spoon.

"And if it doesn't?!" April shouted as she hung off the back of grizzly sized Uzumaki man that was attacking Hajime.

"Well we cross Japan off the list of places to visit!" Naruto shouted as he stopped himself from punching a waiter that was just trying to scurry under the head table.

One guy attempted to punch Sakura in the gut, but she was quick to catch the man's arm and delivered a knockout blow that sent him straight through the crowd of brawlers and into a wall.

"Woah...nice shot..." April said in awe, only having barely seen the act.

"Gotta love brutal physical training." Sakura gloated before kicking another man in the stomach.

"Amen, sister." April said as she judo flipped the man attacking her hubby. Letting Hajime help pull an old bag off of Naruto who was hitting him with her bag.

All around them mini skirmishes filled the dance floor.

Katoru had teamed up with his buddies after the fighting broke out. They clashed with another Uzumaki gang that Sakura had met when she first arrived. As soon as the lights went out, he lost track of his buddies. He quickly found himself surrounded by Uzumaki thugs on all sides. One would punch him in the back of the head and as soon as he turned around he was attacked by someone else from behind. Until finally he found a buddy and put himself back to back.

"I got your six, fam!" Katoru shouted at the man behind him.

"Same here!" The other thug shouted back.

Across the dance floor, an older man was struggling to find his mother-in-law to keep her safe. He pushed past two clusters of teens going at each other before finally finding an older woman of similar build.

"I've got you, Abigale!" He shouted as he led the woman over to the corners of the room where the fighting was the most scarce.

Back with the four instigators, Naruto had seen enough.

"Alright...this has gone on long enough." Naruto said seriously.

Naruto jumped across the room and over the brawlers to the light controls. He moved the slider on the panel up until the room was completely lit.

Almost immediately, everyone stopped fighting, looking at the people they were fighting and fighting alongside with. The majority saw that Uzumaki's and Haruno's were working together instead of fighting.

"Do you now see the folly of your feud?" Sulu spoke out. "I didn't spend 100 years of my life out in space fighting to protect our world just so closed minded fools such as yourselves continue your petty thousand-year squabble like a bunch of nitwits. Our planet is supposed to symbolize peace in its truest form. Holding grudges almost as old as time itself is ridiculous and childish. We are supposed to be better than this." Sulu lectured.

The Uzumaki's and Haruno's all looked down in shame.

"What happened in the past shouldn't be allowed to remain in the present. The past should remain in the past, buried by time as we continue to progress towards the future." Sulu finished.

"But...what about what they did to us?" One Haruno woman spoke up.

"Did Japan hold a grudge against the United States when they dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima during World War 2 after they bombed Pearl Harbor? No... with the help of the United States we rebuilt and flourished and each side forgave the other with honor. How do you think your squabble would look like to your ancestors if they knew their clans were still fighting one another centuries later when your ancestors fought side by side in battle for their country?"

"You see guys..." Sakura started. "Even in the heat of a battle, you forget who your rivals or enemies are when you're both fighting a common enemy."

The clansmen looked down and saw that many of them had in fact been fighting their own family members with the help of their rivals. Men, women, and even children lay injured on the ground.

Katoru looked behind him and saw that he had been fighting back to back with the same Uzumaki gang leader he had helped chase off a few days ago.

The older man looked again and saw that he hadn't saved his mother-in-law, but in fact an older Haruno woman.

He looked around to find his mother-in-law only to see her in the protective arms of a Haruno woman.

"You see? You all have the ability to get along with one another, you just have to have the will." Naruto said.

While no one verbally agreed with Naruto, all over the ballroom everyone was beginning to take the hint. Uzumakis looked on at Harunos and could no longer summon the anger they were raised to feel.

One by one those left standing began to help the injured up. Doctors and nurses from both the Haruno and Uzumaki clan began seeing to the more seriously injured. Children were brought back in front of their parents, their faces all stained with tears. Many clansmen simply kept out of their rival clansman's way, but whenever there was a rowdy Uzumaki or a bitter Haruno with some fight left in them, their fellow clan members held them back from starting any more fights.

As the two clans picked up the pieces, their respective leaders and their wives walked up to the two ninjas looking very peeved.

"May we speak to you outside? Please?" Satoshi Haruno asked through gritted teeth.

"You and our children." Karin Uzumaki added on behalf of her husband.

Sakura sighed. "Sure..."

The two young couples were led outside to the parking lot where the sounds of sirens could be heard approaching from the distance. Both couples were nervous, especially Hajime and April, about what was going to happen.

Kazuo and Karin stopped by the door while Satoshi paced back and forth alongside the parking lot. His wife stood off to the side to give her husband some space. The four young adults just stood there, expecting a major reading of the riot act.

Finally, Satoshi turned back to the four young adults with his hair tangled into a stressed-out mess.

"So I'm betting you four feel really proud of yourselves right about now?"

"It's not about how we feel. It's about you guys burying the hatchet and moving on." Naruto said.

"I don't remember asking you to interfere with our business." Satoshi snapped. "God knows how many of our clansmen will be hospitalized for the night. It's a miracle that nobody was killed."

"Yea well, ask me if I care about you wanting to keep things the same. From my point of view, you guys were only a few steps away from having an all-out war." Naruto stated seriously.

"And what do you call that?!" Satoshi snapped as he pointed towards the door leading back into the ballroom.

"Hardly anything at all compared to what we've seen." Sakura stated.

"Well this isn't your world I'll have you remember!"

"Oh would you knock it off, Satoshi!" Karin snapped. "These kids are right! Both of our clans have been snapping at each other's throats for generations. This was night was long overdue!"

"You're right, it's not. But that's not what I was referring to." Sakura said. "We've had close encounters with the Borg, fought off an army of Tolmeekians from destroying a Klingon Outpost, dealing with tough negotiations, terrorist attacks and Romulan Strike Forces. This was nothing more than a drunken bar fight in comparison."

"Sakura, please, that has nothing to do with the current situation." Karin said before turning back to Satoshi.

"We are at a crossroads here, Satoshi. We can either let tonight turn into one more story to tell our great grandchildren about the evils of the Haruno or the Uzumaki clan, or we can each take the high road and learn to live with each other." Karin proposed, addressing Satoshi by his first name and not his last.

"Satoshi..." Kazuo started. "Karin is right...lets end this nonsense."

"You honestly think that our two families can just put aside their differences and be friends? Just like that?" Satoshi growled. As much as he might want to, tonight would surely spark new rivalries between the individual members of each clan. For as many clan members fought their families, many others fought their rival clans as they always had.

"I think that change is slow, but it can only start with the individual." Kazuo said as he held out his hand for Satoshi.

Naruto and Sakura both smiled at Kazuo's gesture.

"I mean, if our two clans can be at peace with one another on another world, why can't ours?" Kazuo added.

"Daddy..." April said in awe at her father's proposal.

Satoshi looked at Kazuo's gesture and let his proposal sink in. Then he sighed deeply.

"Very well...I just hope I won't regret this..."

"Same here." Kazuo said as he and Satoshi shook hands.

* * *

2 months later...

Naruto was returning back to his apartment with Sakura after a week of training with his soldiers. They had all been coming along very nicely these past few months, yet they weren't quite meeting the bench marks he had imagined they would.

In any case, Naruto was exiting his apartment's elevator when he got a call on his PAD from none other than Hajime. The orange ninja quickly answered him.

"Hey what's up man?" Hajime greeted.

"Hey, Haji, how's it hanging?" Naruto asked as he lingered towards his apartment door.

"Thanks to you, our clans are slowly growing closer to one another. While my dad won't admit it, he owes you a great deal."

"Hey no problem. Sorry again that I had to punch your grandmother." Naruto said sheepishly, remembering that night in the ballroom.

"Eh...it's okay." Hajime waved off. "Anyway, what you up to?"

"Oh nothing. Just came back from the Academy. Now I'm standing outside my apartment. Talkin' to my buddy. Ya know, the usual." Naruto said.

"Really? Nothing else? Because I got a nice surprise for April when she gets home. Speaking of which, how's her training going?"

"Oh she's doing great. One of my top students. Plus, she has the largest chakra supply out of all of the trainees."

"Wow...really? Well, you did say the Uzumakis have a large Chakra supply."

"Yup. You should be proud."

"Very...I'll have to step up her surprise later."

"Ooh, what's the surprise?" Naruto smirked.

"Oh nothing...just a little something like..." Hajime paused as he took out a small black box.

"Oh, you too, huh?" Naruto asked before taking out his own.

"Really? after...how many months?" Hajime asked.

"4 now, I think. What about you? Aren't you a little young to get married?"

"We're 19, that's not a bad age. Besides, you're not that much older than me."

"Now you listen to your elders there, Sunny Jim. You're too young to be rushing into commitments like that." Naruto said in an old man's voice.

"Ha ha... very funny you knucklehead." Hajime deadpanned. "Plus, we've been dating for 4 years now. 4 months seems like a sudden jump, don't you think?"

"I most certainly do think so. But then I think about the years we've gotten to know each other. Being on the same team through thick and thin. Working together to save our teammate Sasuke. The two years we spent working side by side in ANBU. And now with our baby girl on the way... I honestly can't think of anyone else I'd want to spend the rest of my life with. Someone I want to dedicate myself to if only to see that smile on her face. And I know that no matter what happens to me in the future, I'll always have regretted not marrying Sakura-chan. I don't ever want to live with that regret." Naruto stated firmly.

Hajime shrugged. "Fair enough man. Good luck to you."

"Same to you. You gonna graduate by the time we ship out?"

"Hopefully. I'm hoping to get assigned to the Enterprise Medical staff."

"Here is hoping. See ya." Naruto said before hanging up. He looked down at the tiny black box he had in his hand and steadied his nerves for what might be the most important question of his life. He exhaled and opened the apartment door where Sakura was sitting on the couch waiting for him.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Yeah you probably can tell what happens next. For those of you who don't have such a clever imagination (or you're reading this before the next chapter comes out) you can check out Sakura's trip with Q. Which ties together with this chapter and a whole bunch of our other stories. Just for shits and giggles.  
**

 **Now before we go we have a few more announcements to make. For starters, this story just reached over 200 favorites. (fires a confetti gun away from my laptop this time)  
**

 **In even more important news… (what could be more important than 200 favorites you ask?)  
Cmartin is getting married! (fires the confetti cannon)  
**

 **His fiancé Amber said yes and I couldn't be happier for the guy. I hope you will join me in wishing him and his future wife all the best in the years to come.  
To everyone else in the USA, have a happy Thanksgiving this week. To the rest of the world, hope you have a pleasant day this coming Thursday.**


	18. Chapter 18: The Wedding

**Author's Note from Panda: This chapter is dedicated to Chris and his fiancé Amber. Wishing them both the very best for the future. Love you guys.**

* * *

4 months later...

Naruto looked down upon his squad of 9 sparring trainees from his hill top vantage point. Up here, Naruto was untouched by the frantic three on three on three battle taking place in the valley below, made barren after weeks of near constant skirmishes. He was free to observe at his leisure the 9 Starfleet Security Officers he had forged into ninjas fights together in teams. He saw one team attack all at once with their assortment of ninjutsu and taijutsu. He saw another pair prioritizing keeping their third member safe so that he could weave a deviating jutsu, he being the most prolific amongst his teammates. And the final team smartly chose to back off and let the other two teams weaken themselves.

Naruto smiled in pride. They had come so far in six months...

 **CRASH**

Yet still had so far to go...

Naruto sighed after one of the trainees misjudged how much chakra to pump into his legs and shot off like a cannon ball at his opposing team. He had meant to jump in front of them, not smack head first into his opponent's face.

As this was going on, the man who was casting the jutsu behind his teammates added too much chakra and accidently shot off the fireball jutsu while his lips were still closed.

And still a few more trainees misjudged their own chakra enhanced speed and tripped after their feet moved too fast.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Naruto shouted in frustration.

Everyone stopped immediately, wondering what Naruto had to say.

"Everyone circle up!" Naruto ordered as he contemplated how to break the news to them.

Everyone did as they were instructed. April and Sol sat the closest to Naruto, being the star pupils.

"Alright guys..." Naruto said, addressing them as he would his friends and not his recruits. "There is no easy way to say this, but none of you are yet at the level of ANBU."

There was collective muttering from the trainees, ranging from sounds of shock and outrage to disappointment and self-hatred.

"What about us?" April asked.

"I said none of you, didn't I?" Naruto stated bluntly.

"To be clear!" Naruto exclaimed, regaining his trainer persona. "What you have all achieved here is not to be scoffed at. Even on my home planet, civilian adults do not just become ninjas. They could never achieve the level you have all reached. Not in 2 years, and you have only been training for half a year. For that, you should all be proud of yourselves..."

"The fault does not lie with you; the fault lies with me underestimating the time it would take to properly teach you the ways of a ninja.

There is a reason that shinobi in my world are taught from the age of 5 till 12 on how to become Genin. And that is because there is one aspect of this training that cannot be sped up or overlooked. Something that not even a thousand Shadow Clones can help you master. Physical training!"

"Simply put, your bodies still need time to adapt to your newly discovered chakra. And while you have managed to learn jutsus and even the tree climbing technique, your muscles cannot yet compensate for your constantly flowing chakra. As much as we might wish it otherwise, this takes time. Which means that we must continue our training aboard the Enterprise-E once it is christened in a few days."

"Um...cousin...the Enterprise E gets launched at 0200 hours tonight." April said.

"Wait...what?" Naruto asked.

"You mean you forgot?!" April exclaimed. "I was wondering why you were taking so long! Your wedding starts in less than an hour you idiot!"

"I thought it was on Thursday!" Naruto exclaimed.

"NO! IT'S TODAY!" April exclaimed.

"WHY DIDN'T ANY OF YOU TELL ME?!" Naruto shouted in fear of what Sakura-chan would do to him if he was late.

"WHY ARE YOU OUR LEADER?!" Sol exclaimed.

"BECAUSE I AM THE BEST NINJA IN THE UNIVERSE!" Naruto defended.

"I AM SERIOUSLY STARTING TO DOUBT THAT!"

"Look it doesn't matter. Break down the camp as fast as you can and I'll teleport us over to Starfleet HQ in a snap. Double time it!" Naruto ordered.

* * *

Meanwhile in San Francisco, the sun was shining over a perfect spring afternoon in the Golden Gate Park. The only dark clouds were the ones falling over the heads of the bridal party as foretold by the tapping of Sakura's foot.

She was dressed in a beautiful white dress as was the custom on Earth. The dress was sleeveless with a lacy trim over the shoulders, a veil to cover her head like a hood, and plenty of room for her now bulging belly. She had spent all morning applying and reapplying make-up with the help of her team of bridesmaids to try and combat her pregnant hormones making her sweat like a damn pig in this tent set up near the spot where the ceremony was to commence.

"He's late." She stated coldly for all her bridesmaids to hear.

All the women in the tent looked over at Sakura a bit nervously, all except Sally of course, who absentmindedly kicked at the air from atop her chair.

Surrounding Sakura were all her closest female friends she had made since joining Starfleet. Dr. Crusher, Troi, Sally's mom, even Karin was there to help out in the place of her daughter April. They were all wearing matching pink dresses save for Karin.

"He'll be here." Karin assured.

"Yes, I sense a sense of anxiety from Naruto. I think he realized the situation." Troi added.

"He's in the Rocky Mountains. You can sense him all the way over from there?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Don't you remember me sensing emotions from people on a planet from orbit?"

"I do not and we can look into that later why you and Naruto share the same powers, but until then tell me what my idiot soon-to-be husband is doing." Sakura demanded.

"I don't know. I can only sense emotions. I'm half Betazoid as I've told you before. Betazoids are telepathic and empathic but I only have the empathic abilities." Troi explained.

"Oh, right. Well, still. He'd better have a good excuse for being late." Sakura grumbled.

"I believe April told me she was doing more training." Karin said.

"Of course! Why wouldn't he be doing that!" Sakura all but screamed.

That's when April ran inside looking like she just spent a week mud wrestling with a bear. "I'm here! And so is Naruto!" She cried.

"April! Look at you! You're filthy." Karin scolded.

"It's not my fault! Naruto thought the wedding was on Thursday!" April cried.

"Why am I not surprised..." Sakura sighed.

"Tuesday morning. I told him to be back by Tuesday morning a hundred times!" Sakura muttered to herself.

"Well, you better get cleaned up and fast. this starts in 30 minutes, with or without you." Karin scolded sternly.

"Fine, I'll go jump in the lake!" April said as she dashed out of the tent.

Karin sighed. "What am I going to do with that girl?"

"Mommy, can I go swim in the lake too?!" Sally asked eagerly.

"No you can't." Amanda said sternly. "I spent 2 hours making you look pretty and its almost time for the wedding."

"Aww...but this dress is so...weird feeling..." Sally whined.

"You can change before the party." Amanda said.

"How much longer until the party...?" Sally whined.

"Sally, please be quiet. Mommy has a headache."

Sally huffed before resuming her kicking.

* * *

Meanwhile back with Naruto, the maverick ninja had managed to teleport his trainees back to the park before teleporting home for the fastest shower and shave of his life. He gargled mouthwash in the shower while raking shampoo through his locks. By the time he was dry and shaven it was 20 minutes to the opening ceremony.

 _'Oh no, oh no, oh no!'_ He thought frantically as he threw on his suit.

 _ **'Kit, where the hell are you?'**_ Kurama asked. He was already at the ceremony area guarding Sakura.

 _'In France! I left my suit there before I went on the trip. Where is the rest of my stuff?!'_ Naruto thought frantically.

 _ **'Oh you have got to be kidding me...you got 20 minutes and Sakura is already fuming.'**_

 _'I'm getting my suit on as we speak! I'm just wondering where the rest of my stuff is!'_

 _ **'In your tent! Get here now-'**_ Kurama was cut off when Naruto appeared before him. The maverick ninja now found himself inside the groom's tent with Kurama and the rest of his groomsmen.

"About time. We were wondering if you had gotten cold feet." Picard said.

"What? Who? Me? Never." Naruto laughed nervously as he opened his tent flap to look out at the massive crowd already seat in front of the alter. A simple wooden bench painted white and overlooking one of the larger lakes in the park. It was upon seeing this tiny little structure with the white curtain trim hanging over it that things began to dawn on Naruto.

This was real.

He was getting married.

"Ooooh boy..." Naruto said nervously.

"Relax, you'll be fine." Riker waved off as he handed him his bow tie.

Naruto took one look at the Earth garment and felt perplexed.

"How in the Hell do I put this on?"

"Here, allow me." Data offered.

Naruto held his hands out while Data tied his bow tie in a flash. With just enough room in the collar to still be comfortable.

 **"You know how to put those on?"** Kurama asked.

"I am programmed with over 400 different variations of the tie, including the bow tie, Windsor knot and double Windsor knot." Data replied.

"Sweet. Thanks, Data." Naruto said as he looked in the mirror, yet saw no reason to adjust his tie. "How do I look?"

"Like a man about to lose his freedom forever." Riker joked.

"Nonsense. Naruto and Sakura are one of the finest warrior pairings I have ever seen. They shall produce many powerful off springs." Worf stated firmly as if that settled the matter.

"It was a joke, Worf." Geordi said.

"What is there to joke about in marriage?" Worf asked, perplexed.

"I agree. Should marriage not be a time of joy and happiness?" Data asked.

 _ **'He really is like that ghost skinned bastard, ain't he.'**_ Kurama thought to Naruto.

 _'Who, Sai? Oh, yeah, big time.'_ Naruto thought back.

"Never mind..." Riker grumbled. "Are we ready now?"

"Definitely. Is Picard conducting the ceremony or giving away Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Wait, giving away Sakura? I wasn't made aware of that." Picard said.

"Well, it is the captain's duty to wed his officers under his command." Riker said.

"Yeah, and Sakura's dad is back on Element." Naruto added.

"I would be willing to perform the task of giving Sakura away if it pleases you." Data offered.

"I mean...maybe ask Sakura-chan what she wants." Naruto said.

"It's not the traditional thing to do, but I'll ask." Picard said before leaving.

"And you get up on the alter." Picard ordered Naruto.

"Right."

At 2 o'clock on the dot, Naruto was standing alone on the alter. He looked on the crowd and saw everyone surviving from the Enterprise-D crew was here, along with a few replacements, a handful of the now peaceful Haruno and Uzumaki clansmen, and even Ensign Olivia with her son Joshua (who was for once keeping quiet while awake) and her mother were in attendance.

 _'Oh boy...this is a lot more people than I thought...'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'I think the guest list peaked at around 1,200. And only 50 of them are replacement crewmen only here for the christening of the new ship. So yeah, great call on inviting the entire Enterprise crew.'**_ Kurama thought.

Naruto gulped nervously.

 _ **'Chin up, you might be able to kill off Sakura's anger towards you by showing off that smile of yours she loves so much.'**_ Kurama instructed.

 _'That's not what I'm afraid of this time...'_ Naruto thought before the music started to play.

A thousand heads turned back towards the beginning of the aisle. Where Dr. Crusher was being escorted by Kurama in his Starfleet vest down the aisle to the sweet tune of violins. Following them was Riker and Troi, Riker having a smug look on his face as if he knew he would be getting lucky tonight. Following them was Hajime and a newly washed April wearing a transformation jutsu as a dress. Naruto prayed to whatever God that would listen that April could hold that jutsu until the ceremony was complete.

Following them was Amanda being escorted by Geordi and finally being trailed behind by Worf.

Kurama and Crusher finally reached the end of the aisle and parted ways. Kurama standing on Naruto's right as his best man and Crusher taking Naruto's left as Sakura's maid of honor.

Each of the bride's maids and Groomsmen parted ways before moving to their respective spots right as Sally started walking down the aisle as the flower girl.

The organ music changed and that's when Naruto's eyes went wide.

At the end of the aisle Naruto could see Picard escorting a pink haired woman in a beautiful white dress. As soon as their eyes met, they were alone in the park.

Naruto's heart skipped when Sakura smiled at him. She looked absolutely stunning.

 _'Holy shit...this is really happening...'_ Naruto thought in awe and joy. One of his dreams was to marry the girl of his dreams and it was happening right this very moment.

As soon as Sakura saw Naruto's deep blue eyes, all her anger that she felt for him melted away. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo. And that smile...they could have had their ceremony at night and it wouldn't have made a difference. Sakura actually caught herself blushing into her bouquet.

 _'This is really happening.'_ She thought giddily.

 _'And you were worried that it would be too soon.'_ Inner teased.

 _'It's still too soon, but I'm so in love with him right now I don't care in the slightest.'_

 _'Then get up there and marry our Baka.'_

 _'I'm fucking doing it, bitch!'_ Sakura exclaimed in joy as she was escorted up the aisle. She soon found herself up at the alter where Picard handed her off to Naruto.

"Make me proud you two." Picard smiled before moving behind the alter to conduct the ceremony.

The two stood opposite each other looking up and down at each other.

"Hey." Naruto whispered with a smile.

"Hey..." Sakura replied softly.

"You look amazing." He whispered.

"So do you."

"Hey." He smiled.

"What?"

"I love you." He stated with pride.

"I love you too...more than you know..."

Picard smiled at the couple's exchange.

"Friends, family, and crew of the USS Enterprise...it is with great joy that I will perform my solemn duty as captain, to wed Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. Together, as one, powerful duo that will continue to uphold the traditions of our ways as well as continue to serve and protect under the banner of the Federation." Picard opened.

Picard looked at the couple before him.

"While they have only been with us for a short time, they both have proven that no matter how short life may seem, they continue to surprise us with the love and dedication for one another as well as anyone they care about. Truly, they have the heart of a fierce warrior burning bright within them. Now, with this unification, I'm more than certain that they will continue to surprise us at every turn." Picard paused before smiling at them. "I'm proud to say that they are not only my bodyguards, but two of my closest friends and an inspiration to all, young and old."

"You two may recite your vows." Picard added.

Naruto and Sakura took each other's hands into their own, their eyes never tearing away from one another.

"Sakura Haruno. From the moment I met you...I don't even know how to say it. I was infatuated. I saw your pink hair, your striking green eyes, your charming forehead, and if it was a good day, your smile, and I thought it was the cutest thing in the whole world." Naruto smiled.

"Ever since then I've always wanted to get to know you better. To figure out what it was about that girl that made me want to be with her. To make me pull pranks just to get her attention. And after years of us being teammates, I finally figured out what is was." Naruto sighed. "It was your compassion, your passion, and your big heart the drew me to you. Someone who wouldn't take crap from anybody and would still shed tears for our wayward teammate. I knew right then and there that I would fight for your happiness, even if it wasn't directed at me. It was like this little poem me and Kurama accidently made.

You're so cute and sweet,

Like a cherry blossom tree, you can rest beneath."

Sakura tried hard not to cry. Between his words and her hormones in overdrive, she was very emotional right now.

"And now that you have chosen me. I feel like the luckiest guy in the universe. I love you, Sakura-chan. I love you and our unborn daughter. Now and forever..."

"Naruto..." Sakura sniffed. She tried to hold back her tears, but a few stray ones were let loose.

Listening closely, Kurama could hear about half the crowd wiping their own tears away, couples were holding each other's hands, and little girls were leaning as far forward in their chairs as they possibly could.

"Beautifully said, Naruto." Picard said.

Sakura regained her composure before speaking.

"Naruto...ever since we met, I always thought you were an immature, reckless idiot that I never thought would amount to anything." She started, making Naruto frown. "I'm not done...at every turn, you always ran off head long into a dangerous situation without even thinking twice. You always got in between me and Sasuke anytime I tried to make a move on him...but, anytime he rejected me, you were right there to cheer me up. You risked your life to protect me on countless occasions and you do that even now. As we grew, you always put everyone's needs before your own. Even when I still chose Sasuke over you, you supported me and you never said a word, but looking back on that now, I could tell you were hurting inside...for that, I'm sorry. In time, I realized just what you mean to me...you are the man who kept me grounded when life seemed impossible. You lifted my spirits when I was feeling down. You taught me never to give up. You kept pushing me to reach my goals when I was filled with doubt. I only wish I realized sooner what you meant to me...so...now I will make you a promise of a lifetime." Sakura paused to take his hand into hers. "I promise to always love you and to keep your heart beating until my own grows still. Believe it." She finished with a smile.

Now Naruto felt like crying. It was the most beautiful thing he ever heard her say to him.

Even Picard felt himself growing misty eyed. Worf put away his wet hanker chief before anyone saw him.

"Please bring forth the rings." Picard ordered.

As soon as he said that, Worf's son Alexander came out from behind his father and presented the two golden rings on top of their pillow to the bride and groom.

Naruto and Sakura each took their respective rings, a golden band for Naruto and a golden band with a rose diamond surrounded by emeralds for Sakura. With Sakura's ring being inscribed with Naruto's ANBU codename Ten on the inner side of her ring and Naruto's ring likewise being inscribed with Sakura's codename Chi.

Heaven and Earth.

"Naruto Uzumaki, do you take this woman, Sakura Haruno, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, through the good times and the bad?" Picard asked.

"I do." Naruto smiled his famous smile as Sakura slipped the ring onto his finger.

"And do you, Sakura Haruno, take this man, Naruto Uzumaki, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, through the good times and the bad?" Picard asked.

"I do." Sakura glowed as Naruto placed the ring onto her finger.

"And now it's complete..." Sakura sighed with joy.

"Not yet." Picard said. "By the powers invested in me by Starfleet Command, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss..."

Neither one of them wasted any more time on Picard's speech. Naruto leaned right into Sakura's face while Sakura leaned back and threw her bouquet behind her. Naruto's hands wrapped around Sakura's waist and behind the back of her head while Sakura wrapped both her arms around Naruto to pull him in as close as possible. They both met in the middle and so did their lips. No tongue or fancy tricks, just two lovers pressed together as one.

"...the bride..." Picard finished with a smile. All around him the audience exploded into cheers. Applause rang out from the back of the seats to the front. All of the couple's closest friends were besides themselves. Riker was whistling. Naruto's trainees shot fireball jutsus up into the air to explode like fireworks. And April was jumping up and down after having caught the bouquet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you Mr. And Mrs. Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki!" Picard cheered out.

The crowd was renewed with applause as Naruto and Sakura broke away from their kiss to wave at the friends they had come to see as family.

Not wanting to spoil the mood, Picard keyed his combadge to signal the shuttles to descend from the clouds.

One by one they landed behind the rows of seats. The one closest to the end of the aisle having been decked out with pink and orange drapes and a sign on the back that read: JUST MARRIED!

Naruto and Sakura took it as their cue for Naruto to scoop up Sakura in a bridal carry and sprinted down the aisle to their chariot. Sakura and Naruto laughed as Naruto did his best to shield Sakura from the endless barrage of rice being thrown at them. Naruto was practically skipping by the time he reached the end and helped Sakura get into the shuttle.

They kissed and waved as cameras went off like machine guns.

Finally, the shuttle doors closed and the shuttle took off towards the limits of the stratosphere. Leaving everything in their wake behind.

"Now hear this!" Picard shouted just as the cheering began to die down. "All guests will now be escorted to the Enterprise-E via these shuttles for the after party! The shuttle you have been assigned is the one listed on the card that was left on each of your seats! The shuttles will leave once they are full! If you do not wish to go, please return the cards to the shuttle pilot it was assigned to! The after party will begin in 2 hours inside the mess hall! Dinner will be served! And all non-Enterprise-E personal must return to the ship's shuttle bay by 0800!" Picard informed the massive crowd.

* * *

In the newlywed's shuttle...

"I can't believe it..." Naruto breathed out as he stared at Sakura. "This is a dream come true..."

"Yeah it is..." Sakura sighed as she looked into Naruto's eyes before grief weighed them down.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"It's nothing...just...I always dreamed that our friends would be at my-our wedding." Sakura corrected herself.

"I know, Sakura-chan. I wish they were here too." Naruto said as he wrapped Sakura up in a comforting hug.

' _ **Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Tsunade say they were going to throw you another wedding when you two get back?'**_ Kurama asked.

 _'Yeah she did. Plus, she's got that surprise for Sakura later at the party. So don't spoil it.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'I wouldn't dream of it.'**_

"Naruto...look..." Sakura gasped in awe as she pointed out the view screen.

Naruto looked up and felt his jaw drop once he beheld the majesty of the completed Enterprise-E.

It was sleek, slender, and long. A complete contrast to the Enterprise D. The way it was situated just off of the horizon of the planet so that it eclipsed the sun was a sight to behold.

"Enjoying the view?" Their pilot asked over the coms.

"Yea..." Sakura and Naruto replied in awe.

"That's good. You two just sit back and relax. I'll be taking you on a leisurely flyby of Earth's orbit. Unless you both would like to head to your personal quarters now?" The pilot asked.

Sakura shook her head. "How about giving us a fly around the shipyard?"

"Can do." The pilot said.

They flew around to a few of the other ships docked. Sakura had seen a few of them, but one of them seemed new to her.

"What's that one?" Sakura asked as they flew closer. The ship looked plain and very old.

"Ah...that is the museum Enterprise. The first of the line that Captain Kirk commanded."

Looking at the registry, it read NCC-1701-M.

"Wow. It looks so much bulkier." Naruto stated.

"It's over 130 years old." The pilot informed.

"Woah, that one next to it is really old." Sakura said as she pointed out another old ship.

"Ahh...that's the old NX-O1. That was our first Starfleet ship."

"And how old is that one?" Sakura asked.

"Oh...she is well over 200 years old. It was commissioned in 2147. it doesn't even have shields. It has polarized hull plating and photonic missiles."

"Fascinating. Isn't this exactly what you wanted to be doing on your wedding day, Naruto? Looking at old ships like in a museum." Sakura said playfully.

"Honestly, yea kinda." Naruto smiled. "How many people did you need to operate that ship?"

"At any given time, it had a crew of 87 people."

"Really? That's it?" Sakura asked.

"Yup. It's a very small ship in comparison."

They made a few more passes of old and new ships before making a flyby of the top of the Enterprise E.

By then, Sakura was resting her head on Naruto's shoulder. Just letting the two of them enjoy the spectacle.

The shuttle maneuvered in behind the brand-new ship where the aft shuttle bay door opened like a large retractable gate.

"Welcome aboard the Enterprise-E, Lieutenant Naruto and Lieutenant Sakura Uzumaki." The pilot said as they landed in the shuttle bay.

"Awesome. Naruto, help me up." Sakura said as she tried to stand.

Naruto was there to quickly help Sakura up. She was due in less than two months and he couldn't wait.

"Thanks...ouch!" Sakura hissed.

"What? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Dr. Crusher said I would be having what is called Braxton Hicks contractions as I neared the end of my term. Nothing to worry about." Sakura waved off.

"You sure there isn't anything I can do to help you feel better?" Naruto asked.

"There really isn't anything that can be done about it. I just have to deal with it until the baby is born."

"Alright. So long as you let me know if there is ever a way for me to pamper you." Naruto said as he scooped Sakura back up to carry her to their private quarters.

"Like I said, don't worry about it..." Sakura sighed contently as he nestled her head into his chest.

Naruto smiled as he carried his 'wife,' he thought giddily.

They made their way through the ship, up the elevator, and to the door of their apartment sized living quarters.

"Before we go in, there is something I've got to admit to you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said seriously.

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"Well the crew quarters were finished a month ago. So, I kinda sorta snuck came here without telling you and did some renovations." Naruto smirked.

"What kind of renovations...?"

"You'll see." Naruto smirked as he opened the apartment door, only to be surprised when he saw that their living room had already been filled with the same flowers from their quarters back on the Enterprise-D.

"I didn't do this." Naruto stated.

"Yeah, I did." Sakura smirked. "However this was the only thing I did. I didn't notice any renovations."

"You obviously didn't go into the third bedroom." Naruto smirked.

"Wait...third bedroom?"

"Yup." Naruto said as he led Sakura to the hallway that had three doors. One on either side and one at the end of the hall.

"What is that? A giant walk-in closet or a luxury bathroom?" Sakura asked

"Nope. Something even better." Naruto smiled as he threw open the door to reveal a pink room with cute little froggys, slugs, and foxes painted on the walls, the far-right corner stacked with stuffed toys, the far left being filled with a changing station, the closest right corner having a rocking chair next to a night stand packed with books, and at the center of it all was a little pink crib.

Sakura gasped in delightful awe before she started crying.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed. "If you don't like it, we can change it however you want."

"(Sniff)...no... don't change anything..." Sakura sobbed. "It's perfect...I love it...almost as much as I love you..."

"Then why are you sad?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sad you Baka...I'm happy...very happy..." Sakura sniffed.

Naruto smiled and kissed the crown of Sakura's head as he hugged her from behind.

"Mess hall to Lt Uzumaki." They heard Picard say on the coms.

"Go ahead." Sakura and Naruto replied, then laughed.

"Going to need to work on that...anyway, guests are arriving. Please make your way down here at your earliest convenience. Picard out."

"Do you kinda wish that we could just skip the after party and just stay here together?" Naruto sighed.

"Partly. But we both know that we want to attend that party even more." Sakura mused. She turns to face Naruto and whispered in his ear. "Come on, the faster we get to this party, the faster we can get back to our room. And then you can tear this dress off me with your teeth." Sakura bit Naruto's earlobe.

Naruto smirked. "I love it when you get like this..."

"Enjoy it while you can. After this baby comes out, we won't have any time for love making." Sakura smirked.

"Then I guess I'll just have to plow you until you can't walk." Naruto smirked.

"Down boy. I won't be seen with stains on this dress." Sakura mused.

"Awe..." Naruto pouted.

"Oh stop it. You'll get some later. Especially after what you did here." Sakura smiled.

"Well I can't take all the credit. Amanda and Dr. Crusher were a big help in picking out this stuff." Naruto admitted.

"Okay...but I'm not going to fuck them." Sakura snickered.

 _'Damn it.'_ Naruto thought.

"Yeah I figured." Naruto chuckled.

"Now let's go horse dick." Sakura teased.

"Sure thing my insatiable vixen." Naruto teased back.

* * *

Later, down in the mess hall, all of the guests were there and Naruto and Sakura were sitting at the head table.

"Man... this is a bigger turn out than I thought." Sakura mused as she looked upon all of the people.

"And not everyone is here yet." Picard said.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"He means me." Sakura and Naruto heard a very unmistakable voice.

Sakura and Naruto both froze. They knew that voice anywhere, but it couldn't be...could it?

They slowly turned around and there she was... Tsunade was standing right before them in an older Starfleet uniform. The top was all red and decorated with many medals and commendations.

"L-l-l-lady... Tsunade...?" Sakura stammered in shock.

"Did you really think I would miss your wedding day?" Tsunade smirked.

"Ah...Commander Senju. So good to see you." Picard greeted. "Although, your uniform is about 30 years out of date."

"My mistake. I should have anticipated this when I left Starfleet 30 years ago." Tsunade replied back with sass.

"Indeed..." Picard mused.

"H-how...are you here?" Naruto stammered.

"Oh sorry. I'm actually still on Element. I'm just being projected here by holo-emitters. The Bozeman paid me a visit and sent me the emitters." Tsunade waved off.

"The Bozeman?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Old ship too. I'm surprised it's still in service." Tsunade mused.

"It recently re-entered service. It was discovered on accident in the middle of a Tyken's Rift where the Odyssey was caught in a temporal causality loop. They had been stuck in that rift for 80 years, however, for the crew, time never passed." Picard added.

"Crazy." Naruto said.

"Space is full of strange wonders." Tsunade said simply before she got a good look at Sakura's huge belly.

"You look beautiful, Sakura." Tsunade smiled.

Sakura blushed and smiled. "Thank you..."

"Tell me, how is your condition? I want a full medical report." Tsunade eagerly ordered.

"Um...well, my chakra network has all but stopped because this little angle is eating it up. I just started in with Braxton Hicks contractions and I'm very emotional lately. I'm getting very worn out very quickly and my vitals are stable while I'm at rest." Sakura listed off.

"Yup. All sounds normal. It's a shame she won't be born before Christmas." Tsunade mused.

Sakura's eyes went wide. "ACK! I forgot about Christmas!" She exclaimed.

"Oh hey, it is mid-December isn't it." Naruto stated with the same enthusiasm as he would if he noticed that there was a stiff breeze outside.

"Indeed, it is." Picard confirmed. "Am I to assume your world celebrates Christmas as well?"

"Yes. Any excuse our villagers get to hold a festival, they'll jump on it." Tsunade said, knowing that at that very moment reeves and holly were being hung along the streets of the Leaf village.

"I know...it's such a wonderful time of the year. Especially when Mr. Saito has his special candy canes on sale." Sakura gushed fondly.

"Yeah, and you get presents and stuff..." Naruto said listlessly. Making Sakura and the others raise an eyebrow.

"What's with you? You always act like a happy fool at Ino's Christmas party. I thought you loved Christmas." Sakura said skeptically.

"Oh I do...just...I've recently learned not to await too fondly to Christmas." Naruto said cryptically.

Sakura had an idea of why he was being so quiet. "It has to do with Hinata, doesn't it?"

"I don't wanna talk about my ex on our wedding day. Isn't that bad luck?" Naruto asked.

"I... don't think so." Sakura guessed.

"Just tell us. I'm under the impression that dinner hasn't started yet." Tsunade said impatiently.

"Not yet." Picard said.

"Alright..." Naruto gave in. "Hinata wasn't the problem with Christmas, it was her family."

"Aaahhhh...yea, they are stiffs at Christmas parties." Tsunade mused.

"They're even worse at their own Christmas parties." Naruto groaned. "They just sit around eating their traditional food at an agonizingly slow pace. And for entertainment they have the branch members do this really embarrassing dance."

"Typical Hyuuga." Hajime mused while April nodded.

Tsunade looked upon the boy who spoke and raised an eyebrow at the pink hair. "I'm sorry, you are?"

"Hajime Haruno. Sakura's very distant cousin." He introduced.

"Oh good. I was worried that the Enterprise found itself another worm hole and you were Sakura's son from the future." Tsunade said.

"Uh...no... OH! That reminds me." Sakura said in realization. "I did the DNA comparison and, while very minuet, a few of our chromosomes match!"

Picard's and Tsunade's eyes went wide.

"That's the first I've heard of that. When did you discover this?" Picard asked.

"Nearly 6 months ago when we met Hajime. How do you not remember?" Naruto asked.

"I never saw a report on it." Picard informed.

"Oh...oops..." Sakura said sheepishly.

"You mean to tell me...that the clans here are genetically similar to our own on Element?" Tsunade asked in awe.

"Um...yea. I have the DNA results on my tricorder...in my room." Sakura said. _'Damn pregnancy brain...'_ She cursed mentally.

Picard turned serious. "I need those results as soon as possible. This is the key to Element being allowed to align themselves with the Federation."

"Take care of that tomorrow. Tonight is their wedding night. But you're slipping Sakura. I'd expect this kind of idiocy from Naruto, but not from you." Tsunade said.

"Yea...I've been finding myself slowly turning into him." Sakura sweat dropped.

"Hey!" Naruto cried.

"Oh boy...that's just what we need..." Tsunade face palmed.

"Actually, we owe a great deal to these two." April chimed in.

"Oh? And who might you be?" Tsunade asked.

"April Uzumaki...well...Haruno now actually. Our two clans were at each other's throats, but Naruto and Sakura help bring them together. While there are still sour feelings, the gang fights and rivalries are all but gone."

"Gang fights? I thought Earth had achieved world peace?" Tsunade asked, directing her question at Picard.

Picard sighed. "There are some who do not share that peace with others, I'm afraid..."

"Not so perfect as you always claim to be." Tsunade said smugly.

"I never said it was." Picard pointed out.

"Well whatever. Don't you lot have dinner to eat?" Tsunade said.

"Quite." Picard said as he stood up. He tapped his knife against a wine glass to get everyone's attention.

"Thank you everyone for your patience. It is my pleasure to announce that dinner is served." Picard declared.

At once, caterers filed out of the kitchen doors carrying vast amounts of food on platters and in buffet tubs and brought them to several buffet tables. Meanwhile, personally ordered meals ordered by Picard were delivered to the main table.

Naruto and Sakura received aged Prime Rib with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn with peppered butter.

"Aw man. We should get married every day." Naruto said as his mouth drooled at the look at their meal.

"Seriously... were you dropped on your head as a baby?" Hajime asked.

"Hey! Why don't you spend a month eating nothing but bugs and worms while mastering Sage mode and then tell me you don't appreciate good food!" Naruto snapped, those horrible memories coming back to him like battle scars that would never fade away.

"Easy, man. It was a joke." Hajime said.

April slapped him upside the head. "You don't joke about a ninja's food." She repeated from Naruto's lessons.

"Yes dear..." Hajime sighed.

April gave a thumbs up to Naruto who gave her a thumbs up in return.

"It's a good thing I can't say anything about this because Ino would not be happy that you got married before she did." Tsunade smirked.

Sakura felt her heart tighten as Tsunade mentioning this.

"How did Ino take the news when Sai proposed?" She asked.

"As far as I know, he hasn't yet."

"What? But it's been 8 months!" Sakura exclaimed.

"You're right. It has. Yet I have not heard anything about it."

"What is he even thinking?" Sakura asked.

"Hey, not everyone bounces back from a bad break-up and gets pregnant inside of a week. Some relationships take time to bloom." Tsunade countered.

"I believe that the seeds of their relationship were sewn a long time ago, but was never given the proper light to grow and flourish. Considering the relationship, they have now, despite it being 8 months along, is honestly the strongest bond and symbol of true love I have ever seen." Troi wisely stated.

"Well said, Councilor." Picard smiled.

"Aw shucks. If you're gonna say that, then make it a toast so that everyone can know how great we are." Sakura teased as Naruto clinked their synthehol wine glasses together.

"I believe that is the job of the best man." Data pointed out.

"My, you're a pale looking one." Tsunade mused as she looked at Data. "You look like you have a sudden onset of Jaundice."

"I always look like I am. I am an android." Data informed.

"So they finally got you lot working, huh? Sage knows why they gave you such sickly pale skin though." Tsunade observed.

"I am afraid you are mistaken. I am the only one of my kind." Data said emotionlessly.

"Really? They were talking about building robots to serve Starfleet back when I served under Captain Garrett." Tsunade said.

"Yes, however, Data here was created by the late Dr. Noonien Soong." Picard said.

"I remember him..." Tsunade mused. "But I thought he was killed during the attack of the crystalline entity with all of his research and projects lost forever."

"On the contrary. Dr. Soong was actually still alive until about two years ago when he summoned me back to his home." Data said.

"Data is the first and only android to serve Starfleet." Picard stated.

"Huh...well how about that." Tsunade mused.

About 10 minutes after dinner started, Picard rose from his seat to address the guests.

"May I have your attention!" Picard called out to get everyone's attention. "It is time for the Maid of Honor and the Best Man to give their speeches." Picard announced, gesturing to the two in question.

Crusher looked exited to be giving her speech while Kurama spit out his drink.

 _ **'Speech!? Nobody said anything about a speech!'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'That's what you do at weddings, man.'_ Naruto thought back.

 _ **'I'm not human, remember?'**_

 _'Look, just listen to Crusher's and do what she does.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'Fine...'**_ Kurama grumbled.

All eyes turned on Crusher as she was handed a microphone.

"Well, I had my suspicions this would happen eventually." Crusher started, earning a few chuckles from the crowd. "From the moment these two came on board, I knew they had feelings for one another. I just never thought Sakura would go and get herself knocked up within the first month of being here."

Everyone laughed at that while Naruto facepalmed and Sakura blushed.

"But...hey, it is what it is. I'm sure we can all agree that we've seen just how much these two mean to each other and how much they love each other." Crusher than turned to Sakura. "I'm happy you finally found the one that makes you the happiest. I wish the two of you a happy and long marriage. Not to mention patience. You're gonna need a lot of that with Naruto and the baby to deal with." She joked.

"Oh believe me, I know." Sakura smirked before looking at Naruto. Naruto just good naturedly raised up his glass to Crusher's toast.

"To the happy couple." Crusher smiled as she raised her own glass.

"CHEERS!" The crowd roared back before everyone took a sip.

Kurama took a big sip of his glass in the face of what he had to do. Why was he just now realizing how many people came to this silly event?

Crusher then handed the mic to Kurama. "Your turn."

All eyes turned to the nine-tailed fox before he could realize what was happening. One awkward silence later, he took the mic in one of his tails and held it up to his snout. He gulped.

 **"Um...hi..."** Kurama spoke into the mic.

 _'The hell was that?'_ Naruto asked mentally.

 _ **'That's was me giving a speech andyou'reputtingpressureonme!'**_

 _'Alright, alright...sorry.'_

 **"So Naruto and Sakura, right?"** Kurama said nervously. **"Great bunch of guys. I haven't known them long but...actually I've known them both for as long as they've been alive...well actually I've only known Kit, er, Naruto...that long. Although I guess I kinda knew him before he was born. We were technically roommates and he was siphoning off my chakra."** Kurama sputtered as he realized what he was saying was confusing everybody.

 **"Ah...I was in his mother, and he was in his mother. Well actually I was there first. I was sealed inside her when she was a little girl. But I guess we were both put...in...there..."** Kurama paused to take a sip of his water. **"But hey, she was a good mother. Well she probably would have been if I didn't kill her...Aaahhh..."**

Sakura felt like sinking into her chair deep enough that she could disappear from the center table. While Naruto did his best to remain composed. The audience was quieter than any ANBU veteran could hope to be.

 **"She was still a good woman. Well, she was kind of a bitch. But still a good woman. A good bitch if you will..."**

Riker found a whole new world of fascination in his prime rib.

 **"I mean, take Karin Uzumaki for example."** Kurama said, pointing to the Uzumaki matriarch sitting at her table. **"Perfect example. She actually looks exactly like Kit's mother. Like I don't know if you people believe in reincarnation, but there you go. It's uncanny. Although you would be way too old..."**

Karin's mouth fell open at Kurama's statement. And he still kept on going.

 **"Well maybe not. Reincarnation can be pretty fickle. Like Kit hear is the reincarnation of this one son of the Sage who created me. And Sakura dated the other brother's reincarnation. Yet they both fought Madara, who is supposedly the reincarnation of the evil brother who is supposed to be Sasuke..."** Kurama rambled.

 **"But ah...Naruto got reincarnated as the good brother. So, that makes him good. Which is what he is...good. Just like Sakura."**

 _'Alright...you're just rambling now. you're confusing and boring a lot of people. Didn't you pay attention to Dr. Crusher?'_

 _ **'Hey, I'm doing my best alright! This isn't so easy!'**_

 _'It IS easy! You're making it difficult! Look, just say what I say.'_

 _ **'No! I can do this! I just need to calm down or something.'**_

 _'Look...take a moment, take a breath and think about what you wanna say.'_

 _ **'Okay okay...'**_ Kurama said as he took a deep breath. The whole crowd looked on, eagerly hoping that he would put them all out of his misery and end the speech now. Kurama looked upon the crowd and let them all just blend together. An amorphous mass quietly judging him. Then he looked back over at the table of the bridal party. Picard, Riker, Worf, Geordi, Hajime, Crusher, Tsunade, Troi, and Sakura all either looked upon his with embarrassed sympathy or not at all. Until his eyes fell upon Naruto, giving him that determined look of faith he gave to all of his friends.

He believed in him.

Kurama breathed again. He looked down and noticed that he was about to take another sip of water. He threw the glass away and looked back at the crowd.

 **"Okay look...I don't give speeches. Sufficient to say, I don't get out much."** Kurama began. **"For a thousand years, I've hated humans. I hated how they looked, smelled, talked, just being in their presence infuriated me. The reason being is just too long to get into and not at all what we wanna talk about on such a happy occasion... Humans have always seen me as a monster to attack or a weapon to seal away. They'd always talk to me in one way or another. Always saying the same thing though... By the third time I was sealed away, I had just given up on humanity. That is until I met Naruto..."** Kurama said, slowly regaining his confidence. The crowd's attention began to reignite in intrigue.

 **"He was my latest vessel. And to save time, he had a really crappy life. The same kind of crappy life I had always lived. The only difference was that he straight up never gave up."** Kurama said forcefully. **"People would always try to keep him down. You'll never be one of us, you'll never be a ninja, you'll never be important, you'll never be loved. But Naruto kept to his convictions and proved them all wrong."** Kurama stated, earning some approving shouts from the crowd.

 **"He fought furiously for his friends and cried for his enemies. He wanted to create a peaceful world without hatred. Everyone said he was a crazy fool for it. And now our planet is more peaceful than it has ever been in its history. He did that by changing everyone's minds. Punch by punch, word by word. The same way he changed mine..."** Kurama said fondly.

 **"He told me once that he wanted to be my friend. That he wanted to get rid of all my hatred. Built up from a thousand bitter years. I made the mistake of scoffing at him. So he called me his friend. He forgave me for the years of anguish I had inflicted upon him. Both directly and indirectly. He would not back down and so I had no choice but to give in too."** Kurama said, as his whiskers started to feel wet.

 **"I gave in...and he called me his comrade. He said I was his fellow Leaf ninja of Team 7. Equal to him and everyone else he calls a friend. And those words felt so real. Just because he said them. I didn't have a headband or any official approval, but I had Naruto's word. And that was worth more that the word of any Kage or Daimyo. At that moment, until the end of the world, I have a village, comrades, and a friend..."** Kurama cried. **"They called me and my brothers monsters. I vowed never to let go of my hatred. Yet Naruto made that all fall away..."**

 **"I've never been happier than I have been after I got to know Naruto. Say whatever you want about him. That he's an idiot, he's stubborn, he's a ramen obsessed freak- He saved me from another thousand years of anger, bitterly loneliness, and suffering. He deserves...more than everything good that happens to him. And getting to marry the girl of his dreams that he has been prattling on about since he first laid eyes on her, and that she turned out to be one amazing vixen in her own right...that's just spectacular..."**

The room fell back into a hush, not out of cringe this time, but of awe.

Kurama raised up his wine glass.

 **"To Naruto and Sakura. May their love never die out. May their stories always be remembered."** Kurama toasted.

Everyone raised their glasses. "TO THE UZUMAKI'S!" Everyone cheered.

Once everyone had downed their glasses, Kurama sat back down.

 **"How did I do?"**

"That was...beautiful..." Sakura sniffed as she wiped away a tear.

 **"Yeah, sorry I didn't get more into you. Just felt like a good place to stop."** Kurama said.

He then felt a soft had start scratching the back of his ear. "Who knew you could give a speech with such heart and sincerity." Tsunade said softly.

 **"Yeah well...it's all thanks to Kit. If he hadn't broken my shell..."**

"You don't need to tell me that. You have been a huge help to us, both voluntary and involuntary. In fact, I'm tempted to give you citizenship when you get back." Tsunade said.

 **"Ah shucks. You don't need to do that. That was just something I said during the speech..."**

"Maybe I want to?" Tsunade chuckled. Then she got an idea. "In fact, I think I will.

 **"Will I have to pay taxes?"** Kurama asked.

"Pfft...with the money those two are going to have when they're done, you won't need to worry about that." Tsunade waved off.

The reminder of Naruto and Sakura leaving in a little more than 4 years made the mood somber and quiet. In all honesty, the crew will all miss these two dearly as will the two ninjas missing their family away from home.

"Um...Lady Tsunade...about that." Sakura said hesitantly.

"What is it Sakura?" Tsunade asked.

"We, uh...we've been discussing this off and on, but...when our 5 years are completed...we're not sure if we want to leave or stay."

"What? You're just going to leave behind all your friends and family?" Tsunade asked, shocked.

"That's our problem. No matter what we choose, we'll still be leaving good friends who we've come to think as family behind." Sakura said.

"Sakura, this is a question that every Leaf ninja has had to ask themselves after serving with Starfleet. Dating all the way back to the reign of my grandfather. And it's definitely not something you need to decide right now." Tsunade advised her.

"Has anyone ever chosen to stay with Starfleet?" Sakura asked.

"Not that I know of. The records are top secret. Even to the Hokage. I only know that others took on this mission because my master the 3rd Hokage served with Starfleet before me."

Sakura looked down in disappointment. She had hoped that she would have someone from the other side of her decision to talk to.

"Listen. That is a decision you will make years from now. Chin up, it's your wedding day." Tsunade said, trying to cheer her up.

"Yea...you're right. What am I doing thinking about that?" Sakura smiled.

"Of course I'm right. Now enjoy your day, Lieutenant." Tsunade ordered jokingly.

"Hey Sakura, check it out, the cake!" Naruto patted her shoulder.

Sakura turned and her jaw dropped when she saw the cake.

The crowd parted as four security officers came in carrying an 8-layered white cake with an orange and red little figurines adorning the top.

"Holy crap..." Sakura said in awe.

"Where the heck is there a replicator to make a cake that big?" Naruto exclaimed in excitement.

"It wasn't replicated." Picard said.

"My mom made it." April smiled.

"Your mom is freaking amazing." Naruto praised as the cake was placed in front of him and Sakura.

"She likes to bake whenever she isn't working at the university as a historian." April shrugged.

"That's fine but...wow..." Sakura said in awe.

"Attention everyone! The happy couple will now cut the cake!" Riker declared.

Everyone cheered as Sakura and Naruto walked around the table and up to the behemoth of a cake. Standing next to it even Naruto was dwarfed by a head next to the cake. It was even left on the ground.

"Ho boy, ya wanna get on my shoulders or something?" Naruto suggested to his wife.

"I'm in a dress you dunce!" Sakura snapped in embarrassment.

"Well I'm not about to go on your shoulders. You're pregnant and I'm a heavy beast!" Naruto declared.

"Just...get a couple of chairs..."

 **"No need. Just sit on my tails."** Kurama offered.

Sakura and Naruto looked back and were surprised to see Kurama offering them two of his big fluffy tails to sit on.

"Thanks buddy." Naruto smiled.

 **"No problem. Just don't make it a habit."**

"No promises." Naruto smirked.

"Yes promises. After this baby is out of me I will never be so helpless again." Sakura declared as she and Naruto sat down and were hoisted up. Riker handed Sakura a carving knife and the two of them held the blade handle together.

"Ready?" Sakura asked.

"Yup." Naruto nodded.

They both positioned the knife on the very top layer and sliced the knife through the cake right next to Naruto's figurine. Everyone applauded their beautiful cut as they cut a piece for each other.

"Is it me or is this Earth tradition weird?" Naruto whispered so that only Sakura could hear.

"Eh...if it makes them happy then whatever." Sakura whispered back.

Naruto shrugged as he recalled what Riker had instructed him to do. They both scooped a piece of their cake and fed it to their spouse. Naruto had to admit, it was pretty cute to feed Sakura-chan and to be fed by her.

"Oooohh maaan...I wish I had a camera..." Tsunade pouted.

"Don't worry. I'll send you photos via subspace data transfer." Picard stated.

"You'd better. Or else I'll never forgive you Federation bastards for keeping me away from the wedding between my two favorite ninjas. It's bad enough that I can't tell anyone about this." Tsunade said as she watched Naruto smear a little bit of frosting on Sakura's nose and lick it off.

"It's the least I can do for someone of your stature, M'lady." Picard said respectfully.

Tsunade smirked. "Careful, Picard. That silver tongue of yours might give someone the wrong impression."

Picard chuckled a bit. "I'm not really into younger women."

Tsunade was taken aback by his statement. "How...old do you think I am?"

"I'd say...mid 30's."

Tsunade blushed furiously. Why, she didn't know, but she felt her chest warming up. "Aha...well...I'm actually in my late 60's..."

Picard raised an eyebrow. "Really? You don't look a day over 34."

"That's because she uses a special jutsu to hide her appearance." Riker interjected. "Naruto told me so."

Picard went wide eyed. "Is this true, M'lady?"

"Yes. Could you please tell my apprentice to slap Naruto and your number 2 for me?" Tsunade requested.

"You know...true beauty does not lie skin deep. I'm sure you've heard this. It comes from within. No matter how you look, I'm sure you are still beautiful on the inside." Picard stated.

"Yea yea, I've heard that befo-wait...what did you just say...?" Tsunade gasped out on the last part.

"I said that you are beautiful without the need to make yourself look younger."

"I... I-uh...I...um..." Tsunade stammered, completely flustered.

"Have you ever seen Lady Tsunade so flustered?" Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"No, never. What is actually happening?" Naruto asked.

Sakura smirked. "If I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. She's crushing on our Captain." She whispered.

"What? But she's so old. Old people don't have crushes!" Naruto whispered back.

"Then tell me why Lady Tsunade is blushing harder than Hinata."

Naruto looked again and saw that his wife's words were indeed right on the money.

"Holy crap, you're right."

"When am I not?" Sakura grinned.

"Never as far as I'm concerned." Naruto said as he pecked Sakura on the forehead.

By now, everyone was standing up to grab a piece of cake. The reviews were stellar. Hajime was ready to beg April's mom to stay aboard the ship as a cook before he found April imitating Naruto and smearing a little frosting on her nose.

"Having fun, dear?" Hajime asked.

"I am. See anything you like? Anything...tasty?" She nudged.

Hajime smirked. "You look tasty without the frosting."

"And now?"

"Irresistible..." Hajime said before he leaned over and licked the frosting off her nose.

As the couple giggled, a pair of familiar kids looked over at them in confusion.

"Why do they do that?" Alexander asked Sally as they both stood and ate their slices of cake.

"I have no idea." Sally said.

"Does it make the cake taste better?" Alexander wondered.

"That's impossible." Sally declared as she sank her teeth into another bite of the half red velvet/ half orange creme cake with white frosting.

"Well, how do you know?" Alexander asked.

"Because this is the most amazing-est cake in the whole universe." Sally praised.

"Eh...it's okay, I guess."

"What?! Are you crazy?" Sally accused Alex, almost to the point of being offended.

"I'm not really a huge fan of cake."

"That's crazy, you're crazy! Maybe you're just not eating it right." Sally stated.

"I'm half Klingon, we don't typically have a taste for sweets."

"But you're still half human. You should enjoy sweets. Otherwise, what's the point in living?" Sally asked.

"There are a lot of things to live for than just sweets. Just take a look at Sakura and Naruto." Alexander pointed out. "They live to help others and to help each other. I believe my father would say...'They have true honor that any Klingon or human would die for.'"

"And my grandmother always says, 'eat sweets and be sweet, that's the key to happiness.'" Sally replied.

"Sally...do you honestly think sweets are what got them to be happy?"

"No, it's being sweet to each other. That's how they got each other happy. Eating sweets just makes you happy."

"If you say so..." Alexander sighed.

Sally frowned as Alexander continued eating with disinterest. How dare he scoff at sweets? She wouldn't stand for it. She would show him that sweets were the best thing ever. And that's when it hit her.

Alexander's eyes wandered over to the happy couple, where Naruto and Sakura stayed by the cake to help pass out slices to the guests. His gaze then turned to Kurama, who was entertaining two younger kids with his tails while their parents got them all cake. Then to Hajime and April, who were slipping off into the crowd to do who knows what. And finally, Alex's attention fell back on Sally. The half Klingon did a double take when he noticed what Sally had smeared on her nose.

"Why do you have frosting on your nose?" Alexander asked.

"You said that you didn't like cake and maybe that putting it on my nose would make it taste better." Sally said, repeating her flawless logic.

Over by the cake where the newlyweds were handing out cake, Sakura saw the interaction with those two and smiled.

"That's so adorable..." Sakura gushed.

"What?" Naruto asked as he handed out a slice to an Ensign Engineer.

"Look at Sally." Sakura said.

Naruto did just that and saw little Sally, their flower girl, with frosting on her nose, leaning forward with her eyes closed for Alexander to...was that Alexander?!

"They're not doing what I think they're doing right?" Naruto said astonished.

"Yes, now turn around before more people stare." Sakura ordered, wanting to let those two have their privacy.

Alexander was unsure about this, but Sally seemed dead set on this happening. So... he showed no fear and leaned in to lick the frosting off her nose.

His tongue darted out to lick up the frosting. It was so fast, yet he felt a spark of salty taste shoot up his taste buds. The salt complimented the sweet frosting and enhanced it. He never noticed how good the frosting tasted until now. His tongue retreated back to his mouth and Alexander immediately wanted another taste. It was only after he opened his eyes to look at Sally again did his brain comprehend what he just did, or tried too.

For some reason, his cheeks started burning like he had taken a huge bite of hasperat, he couldn't speak, his stomach felt like he was in zero gravity, and looking at Sally in her pretty eyes made his cheeks burn even hotter.

"S-so...how was it…?" Sally asked, feeling the same kind of anxiety Alexander was.

"It was super tasty..." Alexander said automatically. The two 5-year-olds stared at one another for a minute. Neither one of them said a word.

Finally, at once, they both turned around and ran away from each other, bombarded with feelings they didn't understand.

Sakura and Amanda could only smile. It was such a heartwarming sight.

"ADMIRAL ON DECK!" Someone shouted, making everyone turn to the door to see none other than Admiral Sulu with a group of people carrying musical instruments.

"At ease everyone...I have come with my band to play the happy couple some traditional music." Sulu smiled.

"Is it time for our first dance already?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite. We still have to set up." Sulu said. "Plus, I brought a few of my colleagues."

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"I do believe he means us." Came a deep, raspy voice from the door. Everyone turned to see the living legends who served under Kirk; Spock, Scotty, McCoy, Chekov and Uhura.

"I don't...believe it..."Sakura gasped out.

"A pleasure to see you two kids again." Scotty greeted.

"Bones...?" Tsunade asked in awe.

"Tsunade...it's been a long time." Dr. McCoy said.

"Did you two serve together?" Sakura asked.

"On the contrary, for the first 4 months of her tenure, I trained her in the ways of Starfleet medicine." McCoy said.

"Bones here was the best doctor in Starfleet in his time. To learn from him was an honor." Tsunade said fondly.

"The honor was mine. It's only a shame that Tsunade was forbidden to use her medical jutsu during her years of service." McCoy said regretfully.

"Really? I'm not." Sakura said.

"It's was some political BS held by the Federation at the time. They didn't want me using my medical knowledge that I learned on our non-warp world. Believing it to be inferior at best and witchcraft at worst. McCoy and I fought long and hard to get that law changed for future medical ninjas serving Starfleet. And I'm damn proud it ended up benefiting you in the long run." Tsunade said to her apprentice.

"Quite. She's been a great help to our medical staff and myself." Picard said.

"I'd go so far as to say she is the best assistant I've ever had." Crusher added.

"Agreed. These two even taught us to use Chakra." Picard informed.

"Incredible." Uhura said. "Jiraiya tried to teach us how to use chakra but was never successful."

"Uhura, did you remember to take your memory booster?" Bones asked.

"No he did." Chekov said. "He tried to show us a few jutsus, but we could never tap into our chakra. If we even have any."

"I do seem to recall that, however, because of our age, what Chakra we would have had faded away." Spock said.

"Even you, Spock?" Scotty asked, knowing that Vulcans can live for a very long time.

"I do not require nor do I desire to obtain such power." Spock countered.

"You wouldn't want to be able to walk on walls or create perfect replicas of yourself that you keep the memories of?" Naruto asked. Figuring that a brainiac like Spock would love anything that helped him study more or whatever.

"I believe the use of Chakra requires to be in a certain emotional state, does it not?" Spock asked.

"In certain jutsu's yes." Sakura said.

"Then it would not benefit me. Besides, there are no... shortcuts as the Human term is stated, to obtaining logic." Spock countered.

"I prefer to think of it as using your strengths to overcome your weaknesses." Naruto shrugged.

"You forget Naruto. Vulcans learn from an early age to contain and suppress their emotions." Picard interjected.

"Oh I wasn't saying that his lack of emotions was a weakness. I was referring more to myself. I suck at studying, but I'm a master of Shadow Clones. So, I make a ton of Shadow Clones and I can memorize a text book in a single day."

"I appreciate the offer; however, I do not wish to acquire such a power when my role in this universe is to act as Starfleet's ambassador and to help reunite the Romulans and the Vulcans."

"Reunite?" Sakura asked. "Aren't they two separate species?"

"Let's save that question for another time." Tsunade said. "This is your wedding day, remember?"

"And it is a long story. I will be remaining on the Enterprise for a few days." Spock said.

"As will the rest of us. It is a tradition set by Starfleet as we were the first crew to command the Enterprise." Sulu informed.

"And a damn fine ship she is..." Scotty said in awe as he looked around.

"It's an honor to have you all aboard once again." Picard smiled.

"It's an honor to be here. And to attend your wedding." Sulu said as he bowed to the happy couple.

"Oh no, the honor is ours. We weren't expecting you to come, but this is a happy surprise for us-OUCH!" Sakura exclaimed in pain.

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked in full doctor mode as she and Dr. Crusher and Dr. McCoy were at her side.

"I-I'm fine...just a Braxton Hicks contraction..." Sakura said.

"This keeps happening. Why does it keep happening?" Naruto asked as he stood by Sakura's side.

"Don't worry, this is perfectly normal. It's her body getting ready to give birth." Crusher said as she scanned Sakura's belly. "Right now, the baby is repositioning herself so that her head comes out first. This is a good thing."

"If birthing is supposed to be natural, why does it hurt so much?" Naruto asked.

"That's also normal." Crusher said.

"You try pushing a life form the size of a small dog out of an opening the size of a chestnut." McCoy added.

"Also because if giving birth was easy, they'd let men do it." Tsunade stated.

"Indeed..." McCoy deadpanned.

"Well I'm fine now..." Sakura breathed a heavy sigh. "What's next on the itinerary for Earth weddings?"

"Dancing then happy hour." Riker said.

"But none for you." Tsunade said firmly to Sakura.

"They have synthehol." Sakura countered. "And more to the point, are you trying to preach to me about teetotalism, Lady Tsunade?"

"You're damn right I am." Tsunade said matter-of-factly.

"Maybe she's right, Sakura-chan. You remember what happened the last time we drank too much?" Naruto said.

"Yeah. The two of us got together which was arguably the best thing to ever happen to the both of us." Sakura stated.

"As much as I wanna hear about that, let's get some music going." Tsunade said.

"Sounds great." Sulu said. He headed over to the band while Naruto and Sakura put away their plates.

"Do you know how to dance?" Sakura whispered urgently to Naruto.

"Probably. Do you?" Naruto replied.

"Probably." Sakura repeated.

"The first song of the night will be an Earth classic." Sulu opened. "It's titled Faith of the Heart."

At that moment, one of the younger guys that Sulu brought with him stepped up to the mic while a few others took up instruments that Sakura and Naruto had never seen before.

"It's been a long road... Getting from there to here..." The lead singer opened up as the others started playing.

The newlyweds instantly found that this song was a good slow dance song so they held onto one another, figuring out how they should start. Naruto held Sakura close by her hips while Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto's shoulders.

"It's been a long time,

But my time is finally near..." The musician sang as his buddies increased the tune.

Naruto and Sakura started swaying to the tune. Letting the soothing guitar strings dictate their pace.

"And I can see my dreams come alive at night,

I will touch the sky,

And they're not gonna hold me down no more,

No, they're not gonna hold me down,

Cause I've got faith of the heart..."

All the bridesmaids of Sakura couldn't stop gushing and the groomsmen of Naruto couldn't stop grinning. The two of them looked so happy swaying together on the dance floor. As if the 1,000 other guests were a million miles away.

"I'm going where my heart will take me,

I've got faith to believe,

I can do anything,

I've got strength of the soul,

And no one's gonna bend or break me,

I can reach any star,

I've got faith,

I've got faith,

Faith of the heart..."

With each syllable, the two lovers grew closer and closer, each slipping against each other like a puzzle piece.

"It's been a long night,

Trying to find my way,

Been through the darkness,

Now I finally have my day,

I will see my dream come alive at last,

I will touch the sky,

And they're not gonna hold me down no more,

No there not gonna change my mind,

Cause I've got faith of the heart,

I'm going where my heart will take me,

I've got faith to believe,

I can do anything,

I've got strength of the soul,

And no one's gonna bend or break me,

I can reach any star,

I've got faith,

Faith of the heart..."

Sakura now rested her cheek against Naruto's cheek. The same way she had done a lifetime ago when he saved the village from Pain. For Sakura, for the first time ever, there was only Naruto.

"I've known a wind so cold and seen the darkest days,

But now the winds I feel are only winds of change,

I've been through the fire and I've been through the rain,

But I'll be fine,

Cause I've got faith of the heart,

I'm going where my heart will take me,

I've got faith to believe,

I can do anything,

I've got strength of the soul,

And no one's gonna bend or break me,

I can reach any star,

I've got faith,

Faith of the heart,

Faith of the heart..."

For Naruto, this was like when Sakura held him after he nearly died out in the freezing vacuum of space. They were surrounded by the crew, but all he cared about was Sakura, making him feel so warm with her touch. He could fall asleep right then and there, never wake up, and be happy.

"I'm going where my heart will take me,

I've got faith to believe,

That no one's gonna bend or break me,

I can reach any star,

I've got faith,

I've got faith,

Faith of the heart,

It's been a long road." The singer finished.

The guests all applauded as the couple parted slightly to look into each other's eyes.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again..." Sakura sighed contently. "I love you, more than I ever realized..."

"And I love you, more than you'll ever realize." Naruto smiled as he kissed Sakura's forehead.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Hey everybody, hope you all enjoyed that chapter as much as we did.**

 **For those of you getting burned out by all the lovey dovey narusaku plot lines, we might have just the treat for you. We're gonna be trying something different next chapter. Something more…star treky…**

 **That's not to say we'll do away with the lovey dovey crap entirely, but a reviewer recently suggested this plot line from one of the higher rated episodes of Star Trek: TNG. The concept intrigued me, so I checked it out on Netflix and just had to replicate it. If we love writing it and it ends up well received, we may be recreating more episodes with our own ninja twist.**

 **No way to know when this will come out. I'd hope before Christmas, but assumptions like those always tend to make an ass out of me. Either way, be sure to review, follow, and favorite us if you want to read more of our work. Happy Holidays.**


	19. Chapter 19: Cause and Effect

Aboard the Enterprise-E, all was chaos. Crewmen from every station and position ran like ants through the hallways, the metal structure of ship giving off a ghastly wail as its beams bent beyond their natural limits. Explosions rung out from the engine room, cooking men alive while tossing the less fortunate out to the freezing grip of space. On the bridge, Picard and the rest of the commanding officers barked commands at one another.

"All hands to escape pods!" Picard ordered as he kept a death grip on his captain's chair, as if his palm could hold together the entire ship long enough to save a handful of souls.

"Captain! Warp core breach imminent!" Geordie reported.

"Eject the core!" Riker ordered.

"Core ejection is offline! Unable to eject!" Data reported.

"We've got hull breaches in decks 17 through 12!" Naruto reported from his station.

"Starboard nacelle collapsed! We're venting drive plasma!" Geordi reported. The starboard nacelle suddenly flashed and jolted the ship into a rapid spin.

"Warp core breach in progress!" Data informed.

 _'No, no, no!'_ Naruto thought as he saw decks on his computer terminal flash red one by one. Getting closer to deck 4.

"ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP!" Picard yelled over the coms.

 _'I'm sorry, Captain.'_ Naruto thought as he slapped his fingers together and disappeared in a flash of light.

He reappeared inside his living quarters that looked to be falling apart at the seam.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" He shouted.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried.

He whipped his head around and saw Sakura had only just made it to the door of their quarters. He almost felt relieved to see her if it weren't for ear piercing sound of the walls of their home being torn open like a tin can.

Not wasting a moment, Naruto sprinted to Sakura's side, his mind raving with ideas on what to do next.

"I REPEAT ALL HANDS ABANDON-" Picard was cut off as an explosion in engineering ripped through the ship.

Naruto collided with Sakura and the two held each other close. For a second, the world stopped ending, the both of them exhaled upon feeling that familiar warm. They were okay. Then the explosion kicked down their door and blew a hole through their living room. All of their accumulated possessions were flung out into space while a scorching wall of flames trailed behind. Naruto and Sakura too were exhaled from the ship, twisting end over end against a force they could never hope to resist. The fire penetrated their close embrace, standing between the two as if to cut in on the dance floor. They were soon torn apart, hanging on by each other's fingertips, before that too faltered and their bodies drifted apart.

Explosions continued to fire off throughout the Enterprise, tearing what remained of the ship to pieces. Until finally the explosions ceased and the debris fell silent.

* * *

2 days previously...

"Captains log, stardate 21472.9. We have entered a recently undiscovered part of space to chart its surroundings. We haven't detected any planets in this system, but if luck is on our side, we may find something no one else has." Picard said in his log.

Everything on the new ship was running like clockwork. Even though there were still a few bugs in the ships systems, it still ran like a dream.

In the crew lounge, Riker, Worf, Data, Naruto and Sakura were having a nice, friendly game of poker.

"Son of a BITCH!" Sakura exclaimed as she threw down a losing hand of fives and fours and a two.

"Hehehe..." Riker smiled as he raked in his winnings.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, it's just a game." Naruto said as he handed his cards back to be reshuffled.

"Oh, be quiet..." Sakura said sourly.

"My, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Riker teased as he handed Data his cards.

Sakura gripped the side of the table, leaving indents from her fingers in the wood.

"She wasn't even using chakra." Naruto sweat dropped.

"Deal the next hand." Sakura ordered.

Data was about to deal the next hand when Dr. Crusher entered.

"Hi everyone, sorry that I'm late." Crusher greeted.

"Oh not at all. Riker is just kicking our butts as usual." Naruto greeted.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed, Riker." Naruto said. "Normally back home I win these games by dumb luck."

"Well that's the thing to remember, Lieutenant. It's not all about luck." Riker smiled.

"Riker has a nearly unbeatable poker face. You'll have to be really good at reading people to beat him." Crusher said.

"Yeah, mister emotional intelligence." Sakura said to Naruto. Naruto took that as his signal to find a weak spot in Riker's poker face. He gave her a slight nod as Data finished dealing the cards.

"A seven for Riker, a Jack for Worf, a four for Naruto, a three for Sakura, a Queen for Crusher, and the dealer receives an Ace." Data listed off.

Naruto kept a close eye on Riker, sensing his emotional awareness and any slight change of his body language.

Riker paused in thought before tossing a few chips into the center of the table. "I bet 20 credits."

He noticed that his emotions were stable. Not excited, not bummed. However, he did notice a slight twitch in his nose. Naruto ever so slightly nudged Sakura's leg with his toe. She looked up just in time to notice Naruto tapping his nose faster than a normal human could see, but not for a fellow ninja. Sakura nodded slightly. It was obvious that Riker either had a good hand, or he was bluffing. She wasn't going to let him get away from her this time.

"I see your 20." She said. "And raise it to 35."

Riker raised an eyebrow and matched her bet.

"Ooohh, did someone discover the Secret to Riker's poker face?" Crusher teased as she placed her bet.

"Who me? No, I'm just the girl with the Legendary Loser's luck." Sakura innocently smiled.

"I second that." Naruto joked.

"Heh, even if that's true, it won't help you. Not when I know both of your tells." Riker smirked. " Data, Worf, you guys in?"

"I'm in." Worf said as he laid his chips down.

"Too rich for my blood." Data said, dealing himself out.

"Don't you mean your oil?" Naruto asked.

"I am afraid you are mistaken. I do not have oil." Data informed.

Naruto sweat dropped. "It was a joke."

"I'm afraid he doesn't understand the concept of humor." Riker said.

"Oh, I understood it. Lieutenant Uzumaki used my turn of phrase against me. Eluding to me being an android and would therefore need oil to function as an organic lifeform would need blood to live. Yet he made a miscalculation in assuming that I have need of oil. Although it is understandable considering he comes from a more primitive species that would still use oil in maintenance of their robots." Data stated.

Everyone blinked. "I am not sure I am correct, but I am fairly certain that Data just burned you right back, Uzumaki." Worf stated.

"Yes, he did." Sakura smirked.

"Oh, thank you, dear." Naruto said.

"Anytime." Sakura smiled.

"Getting back to the game, I'll raise to 50." Riker said as he threw in more chips. Naruto signaled to Sakura again letting her know his nose twitched. Sakura nodded and threw in 50 chips. Everyone else who was still playing did the same, until Riker raised it another 50.

Naruto had figured out that he was bluffing. He had noticed that when he actually had something, his nose didn't twitch, but it was now. He relayed the message to Sakura by letting his arm drop to his side, then tapped Sakura on her thigh.

Sakura however didn't adhere to Naruto's advice. She had a good feeling with her hand. "All in." Sakura smirked.

 _'Sakura-chan, no!'_ He tapped to her, but it was too late.

"I'm out." Worf said.

"Yea I'm out." Crusher said as everyone else folded, but not Riker or Sakura.

"Come on, Commander. Pot in... Unless you're scared." Sakura goaded.

"I wouldn't call it a matter of bravery. Just common sense." Riker said as he went all in.

 _'Common sense, huh?'_ Sakura thought. "Show'em."

Sakura showed her hand of three fours with two aces. "Full house." She smirked.

Riker laid down his hand of four sevens. "Four of a kind." He smirked, having held the winning hand.

"Dammit!" Sakura cursed.

"I told you to wait..." Naruto sighed.

"Hey now, I would do the same thing in her position." Riker laughed as he scooped in his winnings. "It was a good hand."

Sakura just groaned. Curse her master for passing off such rotten luck.

"Hey, ya want half of my winnings to stay in the game?" Naruto offered. "What's mine is yours and yours is mine, right?"

"Fine..." Sakura sighed.

Naruto slide half his pile over in front of Sakura with a sympathetic smile.

The next 5 rounds later, Naruto had finally won a huge pile from Riker. He was able to out bluff him and won big, but Sakura was not so lucky. 7 games in a row and lost all of them.

"And I think that's the evening." Worf said as he threw in the towel.

"Yea same..." Naruto yawned.

"Seems as good a time as any to turn in." Crusher agreed.

"Dr. Crusher?" A voice spoke over the coms.

"Go ahead." Crusher replied.

"Commander La Forge needs you in sick bay."

"On my way." Crusher said as she stood up.

"Can I help?" Sakura asked.

"You're on maternity leave, remember?" Crusher reminded her.

"Oh, come on...I'm tired of being all cooped up." Sakura pouted.

"No excuses. Maternity leave means no work. You need to be concentrating on staying healthy." Crusher stated.

Sakura groaned. She had to get herself knocked up. Well, at least her due date was less than a month away.

"Naruto, this is the last baby we are having on this mission. You hear me?" Sakura ranted.

"Yea...But wasn't getting pregnant your idea?" Naruto pointed out.

"I only did that because you had to heroically self-sacrificing like always, but that's not the point. I'm not going to be sidelined like this ever again. It's driving me crazy."

"Right I hear ya." Naruto said sheepishly.

"I'm serious, I've had my damn fill of sitting around. The second our daughter is born I'll be taking the next ground side mission with Picard." Sakura ranted.

"Well, no you won't." Crusher stated. " You still need to care for your child and recover for the first month after your term."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. "Fine, I guess after all of that I'll go on a mission."

"And I'll watch over the baby so you won't have to worry about a thing." Naruto added.

Sakura puffed out her cheeks before sighing and smiled warmly. "I know you will..."

"There's my happy wife I love to see." Naruto smiled. "Come on, we're celebrating our winnings with a nice meal. The finest our replicators can generate." He declared as he put his around Sakura.

"Sounds good." Sakura smiled as she was helped up from the table, showing off her swollen belly.

"I've got to say, it's going to be weird having you not be pregnant. We've all known you with child longer than without." Riker said.

"Oh don't you worry about that." Sakura smirked. "I can hit a lot harder when I'm not pregnant."

"I believe you. But I'm willing to bet your poker game won't improve." Naruto had to hold Sakura back after that one.

"Ever learn not to enrage a pregnant woman?" Crusher asked.

"I have now." Riker said as he saw the fire in Sakura's eyes.

"Okay, come on. Let's go." Naruto said, trying to shuffle Sakura out before she ripped Riker a new asshole.

"Fine, good night everyone." Sakura finally gave in.

Naruto led Sakura out into the hallway towards their quarters, but then Naruto got a strange feeling just now.

"Is it me, or did all of that seem familiar to you?"

"Me getting my butt kicked at poker while you clean house? Yeah, that was pretty familiar." Sakura dryly stated.

"No, not that...I mean everything else." Naruto insisted.

"Then no, I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura said.

"Hmmm, must be my imagination then." Naruto shrugged.

The two walked down the hallway and enter the elevator. As soon as the doors closed did Sakura speak again. "But for the sake of conversation, what did you mean by everything else?"

"I mean like our interactions. As in everyone."

"Well we see them every day."

"Yes, but...you know what? Forget it, it's nothing." Naruto waved off as they stepped out of the elevator and into their private quarters.

"Do you actually feel like eating a big meal?" Sakura asked.

"No, not really." Naruto shrugged.

"Me neither. First time for everything I suppose." Sakura giggled.

"Yeah, true that." Naruto chuckled.

"Alright then, I'm going to read a book for a while." Sakura said.

"Nice, I'm gonna sharpen some kunai for training tomorrow." Naruto said.

"Alright." Sakura nodded before she went into the bedroom to lay down. Naruto then unstrapped his kunai pouch and placed it on the coffee table where his whey stone was placed as a decorative piece. After adding a little oil to the stone brick, Naruto began scrapping the edge of the first kunai with loving care and precision. The orange ninja whistled a tune to alleviate the monotony of his task. As soon as the blade was satisfyingly sharp, he moved on to the next one and the process repeated.

A half an hour later, when Naruto was nearly finished with his task he stopped. He heard something, at least he thought he did. He offered a few moments of his time to catch the noise again, but heard only the hum of the ship's climate control.

The shinobi dismissed the thought and finished his task. He put away his equipment and headed to bed.

The lights were off and the open door from the living room draped a gentle outline over Sakura's sleeping form, highlighting her curves that never failed to look enticing to the man. Naruto smiled and stripped himself to his boxers before crawling into bed behind his wife.

"Mmmm... g'night..." Naruto kissed her neck as he snuggled in close.

"..." Naruto heard.

"Love you too." Naruto whispered.

"...Naruto?" Sakura yawned.

"Sakura? Did I wake you?" Naruto whispered before realizing something. "Wait, didn't you say good night to me a second ago?"

"No... I didn't say anything...but could you get me a bowl of ice cream?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Naruto said, a bit perplexed. He was certain that he heard Sakura saying something to him earlier. Nevertheless, he got up and made a beeline for the replicator to fulfil his pregnant wife's request.

"Bowl of ice cream." Naruto spoke to the computer.

"SPECIFY FLAVOR." The computer said.

"Chocolate." Naruto guessed. The replicator hummed and produced a bowl of chocolate ice cream with four scoops.

"And a spoon." Naruto requested. The replicator hummed again and a spoon appeared stuck inside the ice cream. Naruto took the ice cream back to an awaiting wife.

"Madame, your chocolat." Naruto said, utilizing what little French he had learned back on Earth.

"Thanks, dear..." Sakura smiled as she accepted the offering. "Although I wanted buttercream. It's okay."

"Oh, you didn't say."

"No I didn't." She took one bite and sunk into sweet bliss. Naruto meanwhile sat down on the bed and sighed.

"Something wrong?" Sakura asked.

"It's nothing, Sakura-chan, don't worry about it." Naruto waved off gently.

That made Sakura stop eating. "Naruto...I know something's up."

Naruto just sighed again, feeling like a broken record. "I guess I'm just nervous cause you're due in a month. It's putting me on edge." He said as he dragged his hand down his face.

Sakura set her ice cream on the night stand. "I know...I'm scared too..."

"Can we really do this? Raise a child I mean. It's a little person that is gonna grow up to be an adult. We've gotta teach her all these different things. It's crazy. I'm going crazy." Naruto vented, tugging at his hair.

"I don't know...but that's why I signed us up for a parenting class."

"Oh no... you know how terrible I am at classes, Sakura. What if they take our baby away because I fail a parenting test?"

"There are no tests, Naruto. It's a hands on seminar that takes a few days."

"Oh...okay..." Naruto sighed in relief. "When does it start?"

"Next Monday at 0700. It lasts for 4 hours a day for 3 days. I've talked to the Captain and he has rearranged your duty schedule for those days."

"Okay, sweet, yeah, that'll help." He said quickly, like a nervous squirrel.

Sakura took her hand and placed it on his cheek. "Relax sweetie...you'll do fine..."

"Right, you're right..." Naruto said, Sakura's touch having a calming on him, her handing feeling pleasantly cool against his cheek.

"Let's go to sleep. You still have to train your ANBU tomorrow." Sakura soothed.

"Right..." Naruto said softly. The two went under their covers, facing each other, stroking the other's arm to sooth themselves to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, the two Ninja were up bright and early to oversee the Starfleet ANBU trainees.

"Alright, ninjas!" Naruto shouted to the 12 security officers trained in the art of the ninja. They were all standing in a grassy field reminiscent of the training field in the Leaf village. Thanks to the holodeck.

"Good morning, sensei!" The ninjas shouted back.

"Today, we will be joined by my wife. For those of you who don't know her, this is 2nd Lieutenant Science Officer Sakura Uzumaki. Or as she would be known on Element, ANBU Medic Sakura Uzumaki. You will treat her with the same courtesy as you would treat me." Naruto said, gesturing towards Sakura.

"Yes, sensei!"

"I'm only here to observe as I'm in no physical condition to aid otherwise." Sakura said. "But by no means does it mean you can slack off while you're around me."

"Listen to any advice she gives. She might not have access to her chakra, but she can still break all the bones in your body while naming them." Naruto warned.

The men all gulped while April just smirked with pride. "Yes, sensei!"

"The move we are going to be learning today isn't a jutsu, it is a special way to kick, a trick kick if you will." Naruto said as he paced along their line. "It is known by some as the cat kick." Naruto said as he took an exaggerated step forward, his right knee bent and his left leg hung back. "Which leg is my weight on?"

"The front." A lot of them answered.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, making a few trainees nervous.

"The rear." April said.

"You sure about that? Or are you guessing?" Naruto challenged.

"I'm positive. The sole of your boot in the front isn't completely flat whereas the one in the back is. Meaning the weight is in the rear." April said logically.

"Come on, April, he's bluffing. It's another hidden meaning within hidden meanings." Sol said.

"And why do you think that, Sol?" Naruto asked.

"Because knowing you it could be anything." Sol said.

"It's the back leg. I'm sure of it." April said with certainty.

"You could easily put all your weight on the ball of your foot. You're a ninja, it's second nature to you. And I wouldn't put it past you to trick us by placing your back heel down." Sol added.

"Good analysis, both of you, but April was correct. It is the left leg." Naruto raised up his right leg with ease while his left leg held his whole body upright.

The 12 eyes of green ninjas went wide, even April was surprised at how perfectly balanced Naruto was on his leg that clearly looked to be behind his center of gravity. Physics demanded that he should be falling forward.

"Are...You using Chakra?" Sol asked.

"No. This is one of the trickier taijutsu moves to pull off. Experts can pull this off without chakra. It's all about controlling your center of gravity." Naruto then lifted up his shirt and showed his diaphragm being sucked in to the point of looking warped.

"This is an A-ranked move that you can use to get the drop on masters. Even an ANBU Captain will second guess if you are kicking with your left or right foot, and that will give you all the advantage you need. An expert sensor or someone with particular kekki genki will be able to sense if you have your character stored in one foot to hold yourself in place. Without that, they are as blind as a Genin. In fights against other ninjas, these kinds of taijutsu moves can be the deciding factor in a fight." Naruto placed his foot back down flat on the ground and then kicked out a few rapid-fire strikes, all while remaining completely balanced on his back foot.

"Everyone pair up. Sakura and I will be coming behind all of you to give you instructions. If we tap you on the back once, you try the cat kick. If we tap you twice, try a similar looking normal kick. Your partner's job is to guess which foot you are going to kick with." Naruto ordered.

The trainees did as they were told and got to work. What followed was an hour of honest attempts, missteps, awkward looking kicks, tripping, and good old fashioned cheating that was quickly snuffed out. Sol on his part was having difficulty getting his footing right. He tried leaning backwards to put his weight under his back foot, but he always either stumbled or looked to obvious and April would always call him out on it.

 _'Maybe if I put my foot like so...'_ Sol thought before the ship's coms blared to life.

"Lieutenant Naruto and Lieutenant Sakura, please report to the Commander's Meeting room for the daily debriefing." A voice said.

"On our way." Naruto responded back over the coms. "Okay, guys. That's a wrap for today. We will be continuing this tomorrow. Get back to your regular posts and get some rest tonight." Naruto ordered.

"Yes sensei!"

Naruto nodded, proud of them all for what they had accomplished. In truth, they had all exceeded his expectations on the progress they had made today.

"Computer, end training program." Naruto ordered. The holodeck faded back to its original view.

"Shall we go?" Naruto asked.

"One second." Sakura said as she finished wrapping the ankle of one if their trainees. "Just try not to put too much weight on it and ice it once you get off duty." She instructed.

"Will do, thank you ma'am." The trainee said.

Sakura nodded and stood back up. "Alright, I'm ready."

The two walked out arm in arm of the holodeck towards the nearest turbo lift.

"You really did an awesome job with them." Sakura smiled.

"Maybe, but they've still got a long way to go. Or am I expecting too much?" Naruto admitted.

"Considering what's out there, it wouldn't hurt to beef them up more." Sakura stated. Naruto nodded and the two of them enjoyed a quiet walk through the ship. Only interrupted by their arrival at the meeting room.

There, seated around conference table was Picard, Data, Crusher, Troi, and Riker, with Geordi standing, preparing for his presentation.

"Glad you two could join us." Picard said as they sat down.

"Sorry, we got tied up with training." Sakura informed.

"Fair enough. Mr. La Forge, what do you have to report?" Picard asked.

"Yes, Captain." La Forge said as he turned on the wall monitor to show a map of the current star system they were in, the Typhon Expanse.

"The Typhon Expanse is huge. If we want to chart the most remote star system, we'll have to launch a probe within the next few hours."

"Fine." Riker said as he consulted his PADD. "What about the luminosity studies?"

"They may pose a problem..." Geordi replied.

"How so?" Riker asked.

"The Flux spectrometers are still down for realignment." Geordi answered.

"I thought they were supposed to be back online yesterday." Riker said.

"They were, until the stellar dynamics lab decided they needed to install new modules." Geordi stated.

"I recommend we use the gravitron polarimeter instead. It will perform a similar function." Data suggested. All eyes turned back to the Captain for his final say.

"Make it so." Picard nodded.

Naruto just rolled his eyes, he always found these briefings to be an hour long snooze-fest of technobabble, but kept his composure for the sake of professionalism. That is, until Crusher mentioned something intriguing to the young ANBU.

"Captain... There's something I'd like to report." Crusher said.

"Go ahead, doctor."

"I heard...Voices in my room last night. I was alone...So at first I thought I was imagining things. But this morning, ten other people reported them at the same time I did." Crusher informed.

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Hearing voices, you said?"

Crusher nodded. "Did you hear them, too?"

"I think so. Last night I heard whispers while I was maintaining my ninja tools. I thought it was just the ship, but then I heard them again when I went to bed. Again, I thought it was Sakura, but she claimed to be asleep." Naruto reported.

"What were the voices saying?" Troi asked.

"I couldn't make them out..." Crusher stated.

"Same. It just sounded like a jumbled mess." Naruto added.

"Data, did the sensors pick up anything unusual last night?" Riker asked.

"No anomalous readings were reported." Data replied.

"When we're through here, double-check the sensor logs." Riker ordered.

"Aye sir."

"Counselor?" Picard asked.

"I sensed nothing out of the ordinary last night." Troi stated.

"Maybe it's a problem with the com system." Geordi suggested.

"Bridge to Captain Picard." Worf said over the coms.

"Go ahead." Picard responded.

"We are getting unusual readings...Twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow." Worf said.

Picard looked amongst his crew with concern, a face they all shared.

"On our way." Picard said.

They all made their way onto the bridge while Sakura headed into the turbo-lift to return to her quarters. She was on maternity leave after all.

Once on the bridge, everyone took their stations. Naruto at his tactical console parallel to Worf while Riker stood behind Data.

"Report." Picard ordered.

"Sensors didn't detect it until we were almost on top of it, sir." Ro reported.

"It is a highly-localized distortion in the space-time continuum." Worf informed.

Everyone grimaced, even Naruto, who would be that last person who would understand what was going on.

"What the heck does that mean?" Naruto asked no one in particular. His question was ignored as everyone began to grow uneasy.

"Back us off, Ensign...nice and slow." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Ro complied, but her con panel just beeped. "Captain...maneuvering thrusters are not responding."

"The distortion field is fluctuating." Data reported.

Suddenly, the lights on the bridge flickered before going off entirely, causing the emergency lights to turn on and some of the consoles to lose power.

"All main systems just went down. Power levels dropping rapidly." Geordi reported.

"Red Alert!" Riker exclaimed, the klaxons sounded and red flashing lights activated.

"There is an energy build-up in the distortion field...something is emerging." Data reported.

"Captain...we have to get out of here now." Troi said, causing Picard to look at her briefly.

That was when a ship appeared through the distortion field on the view screen.

"Aw shit!" Naruto cried, feeling so helpless.

"Shields up! Evasive maneuvers!" Riker ordered.

"Shields inoperative!" Worf announced.

"Weapon systems not responding!" Naruto added.

"The helm's not responding!" Ro informed.

"The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in 36 seconds..." Data informed.

"Hail them." Picard ordered.

"No response." Worf informed.

"Suggestions." Picard said, trying to hold back the nervousness in his voice.

"Decompress the main shuttle bay. The explosive reaction might kick us out of the way." Riker suggested.

"Captain...I recommend we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory." Data added.

"Mister Worf...Make it so." Picard ordered.

"Engaging tractor beam." Worf said.

Naruto furiously typed in the commands into his console.

The Enterprise emitted a wide beam that tried to deflect the other ship. The crew on the bridge all held their breath as the old ship drew closer without slowing in the slightest.

"Brace for impact!" Riker shouted over the coms, but it was too late. The older vessel slammed into the port nacelle, Picard could feel it in his teeth as metal tore into metal, then the alarms started to blare.

"Damage report!" Riker shouted.

"Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship!" Crusher reported.

"Port side nacelle sustained a direct hit. Plasma leaking into the ship." Data reported.

"We've got to eject the core!" Geordi shouted.

Aboard the Enterprise-E, all was chaos. Crewmen from every station and position ran like ants through the hallways, the metal structure of ship giving off a ghastly wail as its beams bent beyond their natural limits. Explosions rung out from the engine room, cooking men alive while tossing the less fortunate out to the freezing grip of space. On the bridge, Picard and the rest of the commanding officers barked commands at one another.

"All hands to escape pods!" Picard ordered as he kept a death grip on his captain's chair, as if his palm could hold together the entire ship long enough to save a handful of souls.

"Captain! Warp core breach imminent!" Geordi reported.

"Eject the core!" Riker ordered.

"Core ejection is offline! Unable to eject!" Data reported.

"We've got hull breaches in decks 17 through 12!" Naruto reported from his station.

"Starboard nacelle collapsed! We're venting drive plasma!" Geordi reported. The starboard nacelle suddenly flashed and jolted the ship into a rapid spin.

"Warp core breach in progress!" Data informed.

 _'No, no, no!'_ Naruto thought as he saw decks on his computer terminal flash red one by one. Getting closer to deck 4.

"ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP!" Picard yelled over the coms.

 _'I'm sorry, Captain.'_ Naruto thought as he slapped his fingers together and disappeared in a flash of light.

He reappeared inside his living quarters that looked to be falling apart at the seam.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" He shouted.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried.

He whipped his head around and saw Sakura had only just made it to the door of their quarters. He almost felt relieved to see her if it weren't for ear piercing sound of the walls of their home being torn open like a tin can.

Not wasting a moment, Naruto sprinted to Sakura's side, his mind raving with ideas on what to do next.

"I REPEAT ALL HANDS ABANDON-" Picard was cut off as an explosion in engineering ripped through the ship.

Naruto collided with Sakura and the two held each other close. For a second, the world stopped ending, the both of them exhaled upon feeling that familiar warm. They were okay. Then the explosion kicked down their door and blew a hole through their living room. All of their accumulated possessions were flung out into space while a scorching wall of flames trailed behind. Naruto and Sakura too were exhaled from the ship, twisting end over end against a force they could never hope to resist. The fire penetrated their close embrace, standing between the two as if to cut in on the dance floor. They were soon torn apart, hanging on by each other's fingertips, before that too faltered and their bodies drifted apart.

Explosions continued to fire off throughout the Enterprise, tearing what remained of the ship to pieces. Until finally the explosions ceased and the debris fell silent.

* * *

2 days previously...

"Captains log, stardate 21472.9. We have entered a recently undiscovered part of space to chart its surroundings. We haven't detected any planets in this system, but if luck is on our side, we may find something no one else has." Picard said in his log.

Everything on the new ship was running like clockwork. Even though there were still a few bugs in the ships systems, it still ran like a dream.

In the crew lounge, Riker, Worf, Data, Naruto and Sakura were having a nice, friendly game of poker.

"Son of a BITCH!" Sakura exclaimed as she threw down a losing hand of fives and fours and a two.

"Hehehe..." Riker smiled as he raked in his winnings.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, it's just a game." Naruto said as he handed his cards back to be reshuffled.

"Oh, be quiet..." Sakura said sourly.

"My, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Riker teased as he handed Data his cards.

Sakura gripped the side of the table, leaving indents from her fingers in the wood.

"She wasn't even using chakra." Naruto sweat dropped.

"Deal the next hand." Sakura ordered.

Data was about to deal the next hand when Dr. Crusher entered.

"Hi everyone, sorry that I'm late." Crusher greeted.

"Oh not at all. Riker is just kicking our butts as usual." Naruto greeted.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed, Riker." Naruto said. "Normally back home I win these games by dumb luck."

"Well that's the thing to remember, Lieutenant. It's not all about luck." Riker smiled.

"Riker has a nearly unbeatable poker face. You'll have to be really good at reading people to beat him." Crusher said.

"Yeah, mister emotional intelligence." Sakura said to Naruto. Naruto took that as his signal to find a weak spot in Riker's poker face. He gave her a slight nod as Data finished dealing the cards.

"A seven for Riker, a Jack for Worf, a four for Naruto, a three for Sakura, a Queen for Crusher, and the dealer receives an Ace." Data listed off.

Naruto kept a close eye on Riker, sensing his emotional awareness and any slight change of his body language.

Riker paused in thought before tossing a few chips into the center of the table. "I bet 20 credits."

He noticed that his emotions were stable. Not excited, not bummed. However, he did notice a slight twitch in his nose. Naruto ever so slightly nudged Sakura's leg with his toe. She looked up just in time to notice Naruto tapping his nose faster than a normal human could see, but not for a fellow ninja. Sakura nodded slightly. It was obvious that Riker either had a good hand, or he was bluffing. She wasn't going to let him get away from her this time.

"I see your 20." She said. "And raise it to 35."

Riker raised an eyebrow and matched her bet.

"Ooohh, did someone discover the Secret to Riker's poker face?" Crusher teased as she placed her bet.

"Who me? No, I'm just the girl with the Legendary Loser's luck." Sakura innocently smiled.

"I second that." Naruto joked.

"Heh, even if that's true, it won't help you. Not when I know both of your tells." Riker smirked. " Data, Worf, you guys in?"

"I'm in." Worf said as he laid his chips down.

"Too rich for my blood." Data said, dealing himself out.

"Don't you mean your…" Naruto said before faltering.

"Your what?" Data asked.

"Never mind, its nothing." Naruto waved off. In truth, he had thought up a joke, but it felt like it would be old hat.

"Getting back to the game, I'll raise to 50." Riker said as he threw in more chips. Naruto signaled to Sakura again letting her know his nose twitched. Sakura nodded and threw in 50 chips. Everyone else who was still playing did the same, until Riker raised it another 50.

Naruto had figured out that he was bluffing. He had noticed that when he actually had something, his nose didn't twitch, but it was now. He relayed the message to Sakura by letting his arm drop to his side, then tapped Sakura on her thigh.

Sakura however didn't adhere to Naruto's advice. She had a good feeling with her hand. "All in." Sakura smirked.

 _'Sakura-chan, no!'_ He tapped to her, but it was too late.

"I'm out." Worf said.

"Yea I'm out." Crusher said as everyone else folded, but not Riker or Sakura.

"Come on, Commander. Pot in... Unless you're scared." Sakura goaded, having the weirdest sense of déjà vu.

"I wouldn't call it a matter of bravery. Just common sense." Riker said as he went all in.

 _'Common sense, huh?'_ Sakura thought, feeling a little less confident. "Show'em."

Sakura showed her hand of three fours with two aces. "Full house." She said.

Riker laid down his hand of four sevens. "Four of a kind." He smirked, having held the winning hand.

"Dammit!" Sakura cursed.

"I told you to wait..." Naruto sighed.

"Hey now, I would do the same thing in her position." Riker laughed as he scooped in his winnings. "It was a good hand."

Sakura just groaned. Curse her master for passing off such rotten luck.

"Hey, ya want half of my winnings to stay in the game?" Naruto offered. "What's mine is yours and yours is mine, right?"

"Fine..." Sakura sighed.

Naruto slide half his pile over in front of Sakura with a sympathetic smile.

The next 5 rounds later, Naruto had finally won a huge pile from Riker. He was able to out bluff him and won big, but Sakura was not so lucky. 7 games in a row and lost all of them.

"And I think that's the evening." Worf said as he threw in the towel.

"Yea same..." Naruto yawned.

"Seems as good a time as any to turn in." Crusher agreed.

"Dr. Crusher?" A voice spoke over the coms.

"Go ahead." Crusher replied.

"Commander La Forge needs you in sick bay."

"On my way." Crusher said as she stood up. "And no, you can't come with me Sakura, you're on maternity leave."

"How did you know I was going to say that?" Sakura asked, making the senior science officer stop in her tracks. She looked back at her number two with inquiring eyes.

"I just did…" Crusher said, letting her words hang in the air.

"And then…you were going to complain to Naruto about not having another child while on this ship." Riker added. Sakura didn't know what to say, he was right on the money.

"What? Can you read my mind now?" Sakura asked, only half joking.

"No, I just had a feeling…" Riker said, a little scared.

Worf and Naruto looked at one another, they had the same gut feeling as well. Everyone did.

"Okay, this is just scary." Sakura said, vocalizing everyone's thoughts.

 _ **'Tell me about it.'**_ Kurama thought.

"Okay, I think we need to hit the hay. Any objections?" Naruto said.

"None from me." Sakura said.

"Yes, I should check on Alexander." Worf said.

"And I need to feed Spot." Data said.

"Spot?" Naruto and Sakura asked, looking confused.

"My cat. Her name is Spot." Data clarified.

"I didn't know you had a cat..." Sakura said.

"You never asked." Data responded.

"I guess not..." Naruto mused. The android owned a cat. Who would have known?

"Maybe we'll visit sometime. Have Kurama play with her." Sakura offered.

 _ **'Ooooh no... I don't like cats.'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'She's just kidding. I think.'_ Naruto thought. "So, I guess that's good night to you all." Naruto waved.

"Yes, goodnight." Riker said, as did the rest of the group as they all parted ways.

"That was just too weird..." Sakura mused.

"I'll say, you think there is something in the water?" Naruto guessed.

"I don't think so. The ship's filtration system would have done something about that."

"Could it be broken and nobody realized?" Naruto suggested.

"If it was, Geordi would have gotten a notification. But it wouldn't hurt to have him look at it."

"He's at the sick bay with Crusher right now, isn't he?"

"True. I think I'll send him a message to his PADD." Sakura said.

"Crusher to Sakura." Dr. Crusher said over the coms.

"Go ahead." Sakura replied.

"Can you join me in med lab 2? I have some odd findings and need a second opinion."

"Right away." Sakura said before looking back at her husband.

"So much for maternity leave." Naruto shrugged.

"I doubt I'll be doing more than looking over med-sci reports. Better see what's going on." Sakura shrugged.

"Alright, I'll be up sharpening kunai. See you when you get back." Naruto said. Sakura nodded, planted a tender kiss on his lips before walking away towards the turbo lift.

 _'Something is going on.'_ Inner thought as Sakura made her way inside one of the turbo lifts.

"Medical deck." Sakura ordered the computer and the doors closed. _'Don't ask me what though.'_

 _'You don't find it suspicious that she would call you back to work just to look over reports? She has other doctors for that.'_ Inner thought.

 _'But I'm better than her other doctors. She even said so.'_

 _'Exactly my point. This is bigger than some tiny discrepancy.'_

 _'Hmm...Yea you could be right.'_ Sakura mused as the turbo lift came to a stop.

Sakura entered the sick bay and was directed to one of the open examination rooms where Dr. Crusher was standing next to Commander La Forge.

"What's up?" Sakura asked.

"Take a look at these readings." Crusher said, directing her to the panel on the wall.

Sakura did just that and observed the readings from a tricord. To anyone but a Starfleet medical professional these would look like meaningless numbers and squiggles, but Sakura could tell they were vital sign readings.

"These are vital signs from a completely healthy patient. Adult male, mid to early thirties. So I would assume they would be Commander La Forge's vital signs." Sakura deduced. "But why would you want me to come down and observe this?"

"Geordi, can you repeat to Sakura exactly what you told me when I was diagnosing you." Crusher asked.

"Sure, I believe I said, at first I thought the room was spinning, then I realized it was me. It got so bad that I nearly fell off the scaffolding. Thankfully someone caught me." Geordi said.

Crusher looked over at Sakura to gauge her reaction. "Sounds like an inner ear infection, but these scans show that he is perfectly healthy." Sakura deduced.

"Exactly my diagnosis. And what would you prescribe to him knowing all that?" Crusher asked.

Was this a quiz? Some test to get Sakura back into working with her term due in a month? Sakura wondered.

"I would prescribe him 20 cc's of vertazine to clear up his dizziness. Then tell him to find time to relax."

"As would I, in fact, I've prescribed him that exact same treatment word for word." Crusher said.

"Okay, that's spooky, but I don't see the problem."

"Sakura, tell me, have either of us diagnosed Geordi with these symptoms before?" Crusher asked, dead serious.

Sakura opened her mouth, but closed it when she realized how uncertain she was on the matter. She really had to think about it.

"I... feel like I have...no, I couldn't have. I've been on maternity leave for months. And when I wasn't, I treated Geordi for his headaches do to his visor, but I've never treated dizziness." Sakura said.

"How did you know he was also complaining about headaches?" Crusher asked, terrified.

"I..." Sakura said before stopping herself. It wasn't that she guessed because La Forge always suffered from headaches due to his visor, she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, yet she shouldn't.

"This seems to be one major case of déjà vu." Geordi says.

"Maybe, but how can all of us experience it for the exact same thing?" Crusher asked. Then she remembered something that happened earlier. "I wonder if this has anything to do with what happened to our poker game." She mused.

"What does a poker game have to do with me being dizzy?" Geordi asked.

"We experienced a moment where everyone knew what the other was going to say or do. It was like everyone was reading everyone's thoughts. I could explain it. Naruto suggested it could have something to do with the water quality, but if anyone would know about that it would be you." Sakura stated.

"The water quality? I doubt it, but I've learned not to underestimate your husband's ideas. I'll have one of my guys check it out." Geordi said.

"That's very wise." Sakura nodded. "Naruto and I will try our own methods to figuring out these strange occurrences."

"You've got some kind of ninja way of dealing with déjà vu?" Crusher asked.

"One or two." Sakura admitted.

"Very well. I think I'll turn in for the night, if there is nothing else, Geordi." Crusher said.

"Nope, I'm all set." Geordi said

"And you, Sakura, is your baby okay in the half an hour since I've last seen you?" Crusher asked.

"Yea, why?" Sakura asked

"No reason, I just the felt the need to ask. This last month is the most precarious." Crusher reminded her.

"Don't need to remind me of that. I'm just glad to be able to do something..." Sakura said before yawning. "But I think I'm gonna go to bed..."

"Yes, the both of you get some sleep." Crusher said.

Sakura nodded and they all parted ways. The expecting mother walked back to her room with a newfound sense of urgency. Something was afoot. Something big.

 _'What are you thinking?'_ Inner asked.

 _'You already know what I'm thinking.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Yes, but my question makes you feel less crazy about talking to yourself.'_ Inner retorted.

 _'Anytime I talk to you I wonder if I am sane.'_ Sakura joked.

 _'What is sane, really? No one cares so long as you can function.'_ Inner said.

 _'And right now, I can't function because of my lovely child...'_ Sakura grumbled.

 _'That's different. Your function has changed to bringing a child into the world. So, people expect you to focus on that, so that your child will be born healthy.'_

 _'Just skip to the point...I'm tired...'_

 _'I was just asking you about your thoughts to help you organize them.'_

 _'Fine. I'm willing to bet we're in a genjutsu.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Doubt it.'_

 _'How come?'_

 _'For one, there are only two seasoned shinobi on this ship; you and our hubby. Second, you can't use a genjutsu because A, you're pregnant and B, you can't cast one on yourself. Third, Naruto sucks at genjutsu's plus he wouldn't put everyone on the ship under one. Those ANBU wannabe's he's training don't have the control or the experience to use a genjutsu.'_

 _'And what if we ran into an alien that could put this entire ship under genjutsu? Troi said that we weren't the only beings in the universe to wield chakra. Some powerful being could be keeping us trapped in some repeating days like Sasuke's clan could with Izanami. That would explain all our déjà vu.'_

 _'Or it could just be something with this part of space we're in.'_

 _'Perhaps. In any case, we should have Kurama try to disrupt his chakra. If this is genjutsu than he is the only one who could ever hope to break us all free.'_ Sakura thought as she exited the turbo lift and entered her apartment. There she found Naruto sharpening his kunai, just as he said he would.

"Hey babe." Naruto smiled.

"Hey. Can you get Kurama out?"

"Sure, your need to talk to him about something?" Naruto asked as he put his stuff down and wiped his fingers clean of oil.

"Yes, I do. I believe that this whole déjà vu occurrences might be a genjutsu."

"Genjutsu? He hadn't sensed any disturbance in my chakra. If he had he would have snapped me out if it." Naruto said as he lifted his shirt up to show his seal formed on his belly. He made a claw over his seal and twisted it like a key.

"It might be that whomever has us trapped has trapped Kurama in the genjutsu as well." Sakura said.

 _'Which is impossible while Kurama is sealed inside our hubby. They would need a way to ensnare Kurama through one of his five senses. They can't do that without him looking at them, hearing them, touching them, smelling them, or tasting them.'_ Inner thought.

Naruto just whistled. "In that case, we might be in trouble." Naruto slammed his right hand down to the deck and a cloud of smoke filled the room, when it cleaned, Kurama sat upright on his hind legs before Sakura. "Genjutsu you say?"

"I believe so." Sakura nodded.

"You honestly think that there is something out there that could trap me in a genjutsu while inside of Kit?"

"I don't know, but it would explain the unexplained cases of déjà vu."

 **"I'll try it, but only because it makes more sense than the water system being contaminated."** Kurama said.

"Hey! It's a possibility!" Naruto defended.

 **"No, it isn't."** Kurama thought as he clapped his hands together in concentration. The two ninjas didn't dare utter a word in case they broke his concentration. His fur stood up on end and his tails thrashed about as he halted his chakra time and again, yet the air did not shimmer and no illustration was broken.

"Well?" Naruto asked, being impatient.

 **"Nothing...There is no genjutsu."**

Sakura sighed. "So much for that idea." She said before Naruto touched her on the arm. She looked up and saw his finger pressed against his lips.

 _'Naruto, what is it?'_ Sakura said with her eyes.

"Can't you hear it?" He whispered.

Sakura shook her head. "Hear what?"

Naruto cocked his ear, inviting Sakura to do the same. She obliged and even Kurama lifted one of his pointy rabbit ears up. At first, they heard nothing, just the hum of the ship, as they always had, but that humming grew louder, until it was no longer just humming, it was whispers. Muffled gibberish that soon became a thousand men speaking at once in hushed tones. The three Elementians looked at one another, growing frightened. Naruto and Kurama unknowingly placed themselves in between Sakura and her baby, as the whispers grew louder, like a torrent of wind surrounding them. Then as sudden as the noises had appeared, they stopped.

"What the Hell was that?" Sakura hissed.

 **"I have no idea..."** Kurama said.

"But you both heard that, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yea I heard it...But what was it?" Sakura asked.

 **"It sounded like people...or ghosts."** Kurama said.

"Whatever it was, we all didn't imagine it." Naruto said as he cued his combadge. "Lieutenant Uzumaki to Data."

"Go ahead." Data responded.

"Did the ship's audio sensors pick up anything just now?"

"No abnormal audio readings have been detected." Data said, making the three Elementians go wide eyed.

' _ **Then what the hell did we just hear?'**_ Kurama thought.

"Did you need anything else?" Data asked.

"No, Data. Thank you and good night." Naruto said.

"To you as well." Data said before cutting off the com channel.

"Okay...what the actual fuck..." Sakura said.

"We all couldn't have imagined it, could we?" Naruto asked.

"No, we couldn't... let me call Dr. Crusher." Sakura said before tapping her combadge. "Lieutenant Sakura to Dr. Crusher."

"Go ahead." Crusher replied.

"We...heard something that sounded like...a lot of voices all at once just now and-"

"You heard it too?" Crusher asked.

"We did, all three of us. Me, Naruto, and Kurama." Sakura said.

Crusher paused for a moment. "I'm coming to your quarters to discuss this."

"Okay, we'll see you then." Sakura said before hanging up. She was then surprised to see her husband hanging out by the replicator.

"Computer, a bowl of butterscotch ice cream with a spoon." Naruto said.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "How...Did you know I wanted that?"

Naruto looked just as astonished. "You did?"

"I... well actually I wanted buttercream ice cream, but how did you know I wanted ice cream?" Sakura said.

"I didn't, it just felt like it was something I was supposed to do." Naruto admitted.

 **"Shit just keeps getting weirder..."** Kurama mused before they heard their door chime go off.

"Come in." Sakura said almost desperately.

Dr. Crusher walked in wearing her pajamas. "Sorry I'm late, I had to clean up some broken glass."

" **Broken glass?"** Kurama asked.

"I knocked over an empty glass of wine while I was rushing out to see you three." Crusher said.

"What exactly did you hear? Could you make any of it out?" Sakura asked.

"I was about to ask you that." Crusher said.

"We couldn't make anything out. It was like a jumbled mess of people talking at the same time." Kurama answered.

"Do you mean like a crowd or a couple if people?" Crusher asked.

"Like a crowd." Naruto said.

"Oh my..." Crusher said as she pinched her lips together in thought. "So I assume that we aren't stuck in a genjutsu?" She asked.

" **No, we're not."** Kurama confirmed.

"I see..." Crusher said, pacing back towards the door and turning back to face her fellow crewmembers. "We need to discuss this with the Captain tomorrow during the meeting."

"Right." Sakura nodded.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto and Sakura woke up to get to training the ANBU recruits, a training session they hoped would be short in order to get to the meeting.

"Which leg is my weight on?" Naruto asked his 12 trainees.

"The front." Some of them answered.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, making a few trainees nervous.

"The rear." April said.

"You sure about that? Or are you guessing?" Naruto challenged.

"I'm positive. The sole of your boot in the front isn't completely flat whereas the one in the back is. Meaning the weight is in the rear." April said logically.

"I'm with April. You said this was a trick kick, so you'd obviously do what we least expect you to do." Sol stated, surprising Naruto and Sakura, both of whom were certain that he would challenge April's idea.

"That's correct, it was the rear leg." Naruto said as he lifted up his front leg with ease. Just in time for the coms to blare.

"Lieutenant Naruto and Lieutenant Sakura, please report to the Commander's Meeting room for an early debriefing." The voice over the coms said.

"On our way." Sakura responded.

"All of you, practice this move in each other. Partner up and try to trick your partner with a cat kick. I'll inspect your progress tomorrow." Naruto commanded.

"Yes sensei!" They all shouted.

Naruto nodded and the couple made their way to the meeting room.

When they arrived, the commanders were already having words.

"The eternal scans were negative. There was no evidence of auditory anomalies anywhere on the ship." Data reported.

"As far as the sensors are concerned, nothing happened last night." Geordi added.

"10 other people besides myself, the Uzumakis, and Kurama, all heard voices around the same time last night." Crusher said.

"Captain." Naruto greeted, announcing his presence.

"Glad you could join us." Picard said.

"We had Kurama out and confirmed that we are not trapped in Genjutsu." Sakura reported.

"I didn't think we were anyway. The Typhon Expanse is full of unexplained phenomenon." Picard said.

"I take it there is nothing wrong with the water, either." Naruto guessed.

"Water filtration checks out. No anomalous pollutants." Geordi said.

"Banking off of your idea, I checked the rest of our life support systems. There is nothing wrong with our air, artificial gravity, or any other environmental systems. The ship is functioning properly." He added.

"It's not even 2 months old yet. There shouldn't be anything wrong with it." Sakura stated.

"I agree, but it was wise to inspect them nevertheless." Picard defended.

"So if there is nothing wrong with the ship, and it's not Genjutsu, then what is the cause for all these strange occurrences?" Riker asked.

"Something outside of the ship." Picard stated ominously.

"Bridge to Picard." Worf spoke over the coms.

"Go ahead." Picard answered.

"We are getting unusual readings...Twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow." Worf said.

Picard looked amongst his crew with concern, a face they all shared.

"On our way." Picard said.

They all made their way onto the bridge while Sakura headed into the turbo-lift to return to her quarters. She was on maternity leave after all.

Once on the bridge, everyone took their stations. Naruto at his tactical console parallel to Worf while Riker stood behind Data.

"Report." Picard ordered.

"Sensors didn't detect it until we were almost on top of it, sir." Ro reported.

"It is a highly-localized distortion in the space-time continuum." Worf informed.

Everyone grimaced, even Naruto, who would be that last person who would understand what was going on.

"What the heck does that mean?" Naruto asked no one in particular. His question was ignored as everyone began to grow uneasy.

"Back us off, Ensign...nice and slow." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Ro complied, but her con panel just beeped. "Captain...maneuvering thrusters are not responding."

"The distortion field is fluctuating." Data reported.

Suddenly, the lights on the bridge flickered before going off entirely, causing the emergency lights to turn on and some of the consoles to lose power.

"All main systems just went down. Power levels dropping rapidly." Geordi reported.

"Red Alert!" Riker exclaimed, the klaxons sounded and red flashing lights activated.

"There is an energy build-up in the distortion field...something is emerging." Data reported.

"Captain...we have to get out of here now." Troi said, causing Picard to look at her briefly.

That was when a ship appeared through the distortion field on the view screen.

"Aw shit!" Naruto cried, feeling so helpless.

"Shields up! Evasive maneuvers!" Riker ordered.

"Shields inoperative!" Worf announced.

"Weapon systems not responding!" Naruto added.

"The helm's not responding!" Ro informed.

"The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in 36 seconds..." Data informed.

"Hail them." Picard ordered.

"No response." Worf informed.

"Suggestions." Picard said, trying to hold back the nervousness in his voice.

"Decompress the main shuttle bay. The explosive reaction might kick us out of the way." Riker suggested.

"Captain...I recommend we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory." Data added.

"Mister Worf...Make it so." Picard ordered.

"Engaging tractor beam." Worf said.

Naruto furiously typed in the commands into his console.

The Enterprise emitted a wide beam that tried to deflect the other ship. The crew on the bridge all held their breath as the old ship drew closer without slowing in the slightest.

"Brace for impact!" Riker shouted over the coms, but it was too late. The older vessel slammed into the port nacelle, Picard could feel it in his teeth as metal tore into metal, then the alarms started to blare.

"Damage report!" Riker shouted.

"Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship!" Crusher reported.

"Port side nacelle sustained a direct hit. Plasma leaking into the ship." Data reported.

"We've got to eject the core!" Geordi shouted.

Aboard the Enterprise-E, all was chaos. Crewmen from every station and position ran like ants through the hallways, the metal structure of ship giving off a ghastly wail as its beams bent beyond their natural limits. Explosions rung out from the engine room, cooking men alive while tossing the less fortunate out to the freezing grip of space. On the bridge, Picard and the rest of the commanding officers barked commands at one another.

"All hands to escape pods!" Picard ordered as he kept a death grip on his captain's chair, as if his palm could hold together the entire ship long enough to save a handful of souls.

"Captain! Warp core breach imminent!" Geordi reported.

"Eject the core!" Riker ordered.

"Core ejection is offline! Unable to eject!" Data reported.

"We've got hull breaches in decks 17 through 12!" Naruto reported from his station.

"Starboard nacelle collapsed! We're venting drive plasma!" Geordi reported. The starboard nacelle suddenly flashed and jolted the ship into a rapid spin.

"Warp core breach in progress!" Data informed.

 _'No, no, no!'_ Naruto thought as he saw decks on his computer terminal flash red one by one. Getting closer to deck 4.

"ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP!" Picard yelled over the coms.

 _'I'm sorry, Captain.'_ Naruto thought as he slapped his fingers together and disappeared in a flash of light.

He reappeared inside his living quarters that looked to be falling apart at the seam.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" He shouted.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried.

He whipped his head around and saw Sakura had only just made it to the door of their quarters. He almost felt relieved to see her if it weren't for ear piercing sound of the walls of their home being torn open like a tin can.

Not wasting a moment, Naruto sprinted to Sakura's side, his mind raving with ideas on what to do next.

"I REPEAT ALL HANDS ABANDON-" Picard was cut off as an explosion in engineering ripped through the ship.

Naruto collided with Sakura and the two held each other close. For a second, the world stopped ending, the both of them exhaled upon feeling that familiar warm. They were okay. Then the explosion kicked down their door and blew a hole through their living room. All of their accumulated possessions were flung out into space while a scorching wall of flames trailed behind. Naruto and Sakura too were exhaled from the ship, twisting end over end against a force they could never hope to resist. The fire penetrated their close embrace, standing between the two as if to cut in on the dance floor. They were soon torn apart, hanging on by each other's fingertips, before that too faltered and their bodies drifted apart.

Explosions continued to fire off throughout the Enterprise, tearing what remained of the ship to pieces. Until finally the explosions ceased and the debris fell silent.

* * *

2 days previously...

"Captains log, stardate 21472.9. We have entered a recently undiscovered part of space to chart its surroundings. We haven't detected any planets in this system, but if luck is on our side, we may find something no one else has." Picard said in his log.

Everything on the new ship was running like clockwork. Even though there were still a few bugs in the ships systems, it still ran like a dream.

In the crew lounge, Riker, Worf, Data, Naruto and Sakura were having a nice, friendly game of poker.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sakura shouted as she threw down her losing hand.

"Easy, Sakura-chan. It's only a game." Naruto said.

"Oh, be..." Sakura stopped herself, she had the strangest case of déjà vu.

"My, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Riker teased as he too experienced a sensation like he had done this all before. He tried to shrug it off and passed Data back his cards.

"Make sure you shuffle the deck properly." Worf insisted.

"I assure you, the deck is sufficiently randomized." Data said as he passed out each of them a face down card to begin their hand.

"Really? Cause I've got a strong feeling that you're going to give me a terrible hand." Worf admitted.

Naruto's eyes went wide. "You do too?"

The group of friends all looked at one another, it was as if they could reach each other's minds like a book, or better yet, a script.

Right on cue, they all turned to the door to see Dr. Crusher step inside.

"Hi everyone, sorry that I'm...late..." Crusher said, before the words turned hollow in her mouth.

"You feeling the déjà vu too?" Riker asked.

"Yes, I... how did you know?" Crusher asked, a little scared.

"It seems to be going around." Naruto said as he gestured to Crusher's open seat, inviting her to join them. She obliged.

"Data, play the cards." Sakura said.

"Of course." Data replied as he slid the cards to their respective players.

"Seven." Sakura said as a Seven of Diamonds was placed in front of Riker.

"Jack." Naruto said as Worf received a Jack of Hearts.

"Four." Worf replied before Data threw a Four of Diamonds in front of Naruto.

"Three." Crusher said, getting in on the action as Sakura was shown to acquire a Three of Spades.

"Queen." Riker said before Crusher received the Queen of Clubs.

"And the dealer receives an-" "Ace." Everyone said, interrupting Data as he drew for himself the Ace of Spades.

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Wow."

"What...the hell...is going on?" Sakura voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Oh come on, this had to be a coincidence, right? We could all happen to guess the right cards as they were drew." Naruto tried to rationalize.

"Lay down the next cards." Sakura said.

Data did just that and just like before, they could all predict the cards that would be drawn before they were placed on the table. Even after all six of them received a full hand.

"Oh my god..." Sakura gasped.

"Impossible." Riker said.

"How can this be?" Worf asked.

"I can calculate the odds if you wish." Data said.

"No, just keep laying out cards." Crusher said. Data laid out the next card which had mixed guesses from everyone. Only Naruto got it right when he guessed a five.

"Still think this is a coincidence?" Riker asked.

"I think it's interesting that we stopped guessing the right ones after each of us had a full hand." Crusher spoke.

"Biggest case of déjà vu I've ever had." Sakura mused.

"No wait, Sakura-chan, don't you see? This is no case of déjà vu." Naruto exclaimed.

"Then what is it?" Riker asked.

"We only knew the first thirty cards being drawn because they are a standard hand for all of us. Six players, five cards. We'd only know that if we played this hand before." Naruto said logically.

"No... This is something more." Sakura said.

"How else do you explain it?" Riker asked.

"I don't know... Genjutsu?" Sakura guessed.

"Genjutsu, huh? Maybe, but Kurama would have nudged me out of any genjutsu I was trapped in." Naruto stated with his hand on his chin.

"Ogawa to Dr. Crusher." A voice spoke over the coms.

"Crusher here...Is Geordi there?" She asked.

"...yes, he has requested you in the sick bay." Ogawa said, astonished.

"I'm on my way." Crusher said as she looked upon the stunned faces of her friends.

"Okay, me and Sakura-chan are gonna go test to see if we truly are stuck in a Genjutsu." Naruto said as he pushed himself up from his chair.

"I do not see how we are." Worf said before getting up.

"You never know. We've got more than one method to detecting Genjutsu." Naruto said, earning a nod from Sakura.

"My ex taught me more than a few tricks to defeating Genjutsu." Sakura added.

"Well, good luck to you then." Riker said before everyone parted ways.

The Uzumakis retreated back to their room to get to work on detecting and removing the possible genjutsu. Which proved to be fruitless. They tried for hours using every genjutsu detective measure they could think of. Halting their chakra, using seals, inflicting pain (mostly on Naruto), they started looking for inconsistencies in the world (tiny details that even an expert illusionist would overlook), they asked each other unorthodox questions that an illusion would never be able to answer like the real-life counterpart. All of it came back with the same results.

"Welp, this is definitely not Genjutsu." Naruto declared as he fell into their living room couch.

Sakura sighed and fell backwards so that her head landed on his lap. "Yup."

"So what now?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know..." Naruto sighed, his hand drifting down to Sakura's swollen abdomen to rub it. Sakura sighed in how good it felt when he did that. "Maybe we are overthinking it. I mean, us guessing the right cards is still possible, right? We all just got extremely lucky. It happens."

"That's not it. It felt way too...familiar. like we've gotten these hands before."

"Well what else could it be if not for Genjutsu?" Naruto insisted.

Sakura sighed, at a loss for ideas. "I don't know. It feels like we are just going around in circles." She looked over at the clock and saw that it was getting late. "I'm gonna go read in bed for a bit, care to join me?"

"In a bit, I need to sharpen my kunai for training tomorrow. Swear to God it feels like I did just that the other night." Naruto said and Sakura nodded. She left him to complete his work while she retreated to the bedroom.

 _'Could use some ice cream right about now...'_ Sakura thought as she laid down on their bed. She reached over to her night stand and pulled out the book she had borrowed from Sally and her parents: _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban._ The third in a series of classic children's book series that Sakura had found to be quite a delightful read. While certainly not the most challenging book Sakura had ever read, all the Earthlings she had talked to seemed to revel in their childhood memories of reading this series. (She even caught a glimpse of a copy of one of the books in Worf's son's bedroom when she visited.)

She opened her book to the page she had left off. Ron had just been dragged beneath a tree by a black dog and Harry and Herminonie were giving chase. Once they made their way past the whomping willow the two teenagers made their way down a dirt tunnel that led to an old house where they found Ron, and more shockingly...

"Sirius Black." Sakura said to herself right before she read it in the story. Fair obvious, but that was to be expected in a kid's book.

She continued reading and things started looking grim for the trio of heroes, until of course Professor Lupin showed up and promptly betrayed them by siding with Sirius Black, the man out to kill Harry. Again, Sakura didn't react to this. It all seemed too...predictable? Which was weird, thinking back to all she had read, nothing had truly hinted at Lupin being evil. Was Sakura just too smart for this book or was it something else?

She continued reading and none other than Scabbers, Ron's pet rat, appeared and Lupin and Sirius started to go crazy. Sakura paused when a little niggling thought dropped in her head.

 _'Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew.'_ She thought to herself, letting the thought hang in the air.

 _'Where have I even heard that name before?'_ She wondered as she combed back through the last few pages, certain that she'd overlooked that name whilst skimming through the paragraphs, yet there was nothing. She was almost terrified to turn to the next page and confirm her suspicions.

 _'Naruto and I already proved that this isn't Genjutsu. There is a reason for everything. It's a coincidence, that all it is.'_

The whoosh of the door opening startled her while Naruto stepped inside carrying a bowl of ice cream.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked before she spotted the bowl of ice cream. "Is that...for me?"

"Um, yeah, I thought you might like some." He said as he handed her the bowl. She absentmindedly took a spoonful and tasted it. 'Buttercream.' She thought. Exactly what she was craving.

"Wait a minute...How did you know I wanted this?" Sakura asked.

"I just did." Naruto said, not entirely sure why he said it.

"But it was exactly what I wanted..." Sakura stated.

"Well who would know your favorite flavor of ice cream better...no, wait, that's a lie, I have no idea what your favorite flavor of ice cream is, how did I guess this?" Naruto asked.

"Well my favorite flavor is chocolate, I was just craving buttercream. That's still amazing though." Sakura said.

"Um... Coincidence?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know-" Sakura paused when she heard the unmistakable sound of voices, as did Naruto.

"Is that...you?" Naruto asked as the voices whispered on like a ghostly river.

"I was...Gonna ask you that..." Sakura said nervously.

"You mean you just heard my voice?" Naruto asked.

"No... Hundreds..."

"Yeah, but I specifically heard _your voice_ amongst them." Naruto insisted.

Almost as suddenly as they came, the whispers vanished.

"Okay...What just happened?" Sakura asked, feeling like a broken record.

"I've got no idea." Naruto said, feeling for the millionth time that day a sense of déjà vu. "But I know I heard your voice among the whispers."

"I heard yours, too...What does that mean?"

"Hold on." Naruto said as he keyed his combadge. "Uzumaki to Crusher."

"I heard it too." Crusher replied instantly. The couple looked at one another in a mix of shock and relief.

"Did you hear a familiar voice in the mix? Me and Sakura-chan heard each other's voice in the crowd. We're pretty sure that is significant." Naruto reported.

"Yes, I did as well as a few others. I was able to get a recording of it and I'm going to take it to Geordi and Data for them to analyze it." Crusher said.

"We spent the whole evening confirming that this isn't Genjutsu by the way." Naruto added.

"Very good, I think. Save it for the meeting tomorrow. I've got a feeling that this will take all night to analyze." Crusher said.

"Understood." Naruto said before cutting the channel.

The next morning, the two shinobi called an early training session with the ANBU trainees so that they could join the rest of the commanders as quickly as possible.

"Alright, which leg has all my weight on it?" Naruto asked all his students while he stood in an exaggerated cat stance.

A lot of the trainees were going to say the front leg, but for some reason, they said the back leg.

"Very good." Naruto said as he lifted up his front leg with ease.

"Do you know why his weight is on his back leg?" Sakura asked.

"Because of his control of his abdomen muscles shifting his center of gravity backwards." Sol automatically said.

"That's...Correct..." Sakura said in awe. _'How do they know?'_

"That's very impressive, Sol." Naruto praised. "Most people never think to look at the belly during this stance. That's why it works so well."

"I didn't. I just knew." Sol admitted.

"Yea, cousin. Didn't you teach us this already?" April asked.

"What? No, this is the first time I've ever taught any of you this." Naruto said.

"Then why does it seem so familiar?" One trainee asked.

"I don't...wait, have all of you been experiencing weird things lately? Like you've done somethings before?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, sensei." They all replied.

Naruto sweat dropped. "Well don't take some time to think about it." He said sarcastically.

"Cousin...I've been experiencing this for the last few days. I can't say the same for everyone." April said.

"I've been experiencing it since yesterday." Sol spoke up.

"Naruto, I'm telling you that this isn't a coincidence." Sakura said seriously.

"Well if it's not genjutsu or ninjutsu than what is it?" Naruto asked forcibly.

"Something beyond our realm. Yours and mine." Sakura exasperated.

"Lieutenant Naruto and Lieutenant Sakura. Please report to the meeting room for an emergency meeting." A voice said over the coms.

"On our way." Sakura responded.

"All of you practice this technique." Naruto ordered.

"For an hour?" One of them guessed.

"Um...yeah..." Naruto sweat dropped.

"Let's just go before we have anymore déjà vu moments." Sakura urged.

"Let's." Naruto nodded as they made their way to the meeting room where the commanders were already getting underway.

"We were able to analyze the recording from Dr. Crusher and we were able to sort out over 100 conversations from all over the ship, ranging from medical reports to intimate conversation to-"

"Just get to it, Mr. Data." Picard interrupted.

"What's this about a recording?" Sakura asked as Naruto helped her into her chair.

"Dr. Crusher recorded what she heard was voices in her quarters last night. Come to find out, it was something that was played through the ship's audio system in certain areas." Geordi said.

At that, the ninjas eyes went wide. "We...Heard that too..." Sakura gasped out.

"But what does it all mean?" Naruto asked.

"We are not certain, but we did detect a recording where Captain Picard ordered an abandon ship." Data informed.

"I have a theory, but you're all going to think that it's crazy." Geordi stated.

"Let's hear it." Riker said.

Geordi moved toward the wall monitor. "Somehow we've entered what seems to be a temporal causality loop." Geordi typed in commands and on the wall monitor appeared a diagram of what looked like a series of loops layered on top of one another in quick succession to form a continuous spiral.

"We think we're stuck in a particular fragment of time. And we've been experiencing that same fragment over and over again." Geordi declared.

Everyone looked startled by this unsettling revelation.

"That explains a great deal..." Sakura mused.

"So much for it being a coincidence." Naruto said.

"So this is what's been causing our déjà vu?" Troi asked.

"Yes, but it's more than that. In déjà vu, you only think that you are repeating events. We actually are." Crusher clarified.

"Our theory is this - every time the loop begins again, everything resets itself, and starts all over. We don't remember anything that happened before... so each time through the loop, we think it's the first." Geordi continued.

"How many times have we lived through this same moment?" Sakura asked.

"Twice? Three times? A hundred times? There is no way to know." Geordi admitted.

"So you're saying that we all could have sat down at this very table and made this exact same discovery a hundred times?" Riker asked.

"That's pretty much it." Geordi said.

"So how do we break free of this loop?" Naruto asked.

"We would have to change an action in this loop from previous loops to change this one." Data said.

"What kind of action? It can't just be as simple as sitting in a different chair." Naruto inquired.

"No, it wouldn't be something simple like that." Geordi said.

"So then what? How did we get here?" Picard inquired impatiently.

"I have a hypothesis which may explain that, Captain. I have analyzed the recording Doctor Crusher made." Data said.

"And what have you found?"

"Most of it is quite ordinary. One hundred twenty-five discussions about ship operations, two hundred fifty-seven conversations of a personal nature, five couples engaged in romantic encounters..."

Naruto and Sakura blushed, wondering if they were one of the five.

"Your point, Mr. Data." Picard pressed.

"There is evidence of some sort of disaster involving the Enterprise - severe enough that the captain would order all hands to abandon ship. I have isolated three segments of the recording which are crucial." Data said before tapping on the command console to play the recording. The recording started off with a lot of distortion and static at first, but shortly they were able to discern Worf's voice first.

"...highly localized distortion..." They all heard.

"...collision course. Impact in 36 seconds..." Another voice spoke, sounding distinctly like Data's.

"...abandon ship. repeat, all hands abandon..." They heard Picard shout before the recording ended.

"Dear god..." Sakura gasped out fearfully.

"The phrase "collision course," suggests we collided with something." Troi pointed out.

Geordi nodded. "Worf refers to a "distortion." If this were a temporal distortion, and if we were close enough to it... it's possible that a large enough explosion might've ruptured the space-time continuum." He typed some calculations into the computer. "We collided... exploded... and got stuck in this repeating loop of time."

They all paused to consider this.

"If you're right about this...perhaps we could escape the loop by avoiding the collision..." Picard said.

"That's our guess." Geordi said.

"Maybe we should reverse course." Worf suggested.

"That could've been what we did to get us in this situation." Sakura pointed out.

Picard thinks for a moments, then shakes his head. "We can't afford to start second guessing ourselves. We'll stay on our present course until we have reason to change it." He said. "In the meantime, let's do everything we can to avoid a collision."

"Captain... We may not find out how to avoid this accident until it's too late. And if the loop begins again - we'll forget everything we've learned this time around." Geordi said.

"What do you suggest?" Picard asked.

"If we do find a way to avoid the collision... we should try to send that information into the next loop." Geordi suggested.

"Is that possible?" Riker asked.

"We have seen that echoes, or afterimages, from previous loops appear as distortions in the dekyon field. We may be able to send a deliberate echo into the next loop." Data said.

"Like a message in a bottle..." Troi deduced.

"Exactly. We could enhance a dekyon emission to create a specific pattern... and send ourselves a message. Not a long one - probably only a few characters... maybe one word..." Geordi suggested.

"How do we know we'll pick up that word the next time through?" Riker asked.

"If the dekyon emission is modulated correctly, it would set up a resonance in my positronic sub-processors. I would receive the information - on what you would call a subconscious level." Data informed.

" I have a suggestion." Sakura spoke up.

"Let's hear it." Picard said.

"One thing my ex knew how to do was to seal away specific memories in one's subconscious. Naruto here is adept in sealing techniques. Perhaps he can seal away our memories of this meeting and have it on a time release so it will unseal itself at a specific time during the next loop." Sakura suggested.

"Interesting idea..." Naruto jumped in. "But I've never made anything like that before and I'm not even sure that I could."

"Can you at least try?" Picard asked.

"I can, but I wouldn't get your hopes up." Naruto said.

"Alright. In the meantime, Data, work on getting that message ready in case Naruto can't procreate the seal." Picard ordered.

"Yes, sir." Data said.

"How is he supposed to do that?" Riker asked.

"Take whatever steps are necessary to send a message. Dismissed." Picard said. Everyone stood up from their chairs as one to get to work. Geordi and Data went to the engineering lab while Naruto and Sakura went back to their quarters to get to work on Naruto's seal.

An hour later, Crusher went to check on Geordi and Data in Engineering, to find the later sitting at a console with a panel on his head expose, revealing his mind to be nothing but circuits and wires. Geordi was tinkering with the circuits, making a few adjustments. He then attached a small emitter device to Data's uniform.

"It is possible that we've tried this a thousand times and it's never worked." Geordi warned Crusher.

"It's a frightening thought." He added.

"Does it feel like you've done this a thousand times?" Crusher asked, hoping to console her crewmate.

"No, it doesn't. But we've could've done this a hundred times for all we know."

"It is nearly impossible to determine if we did or did not attempt this." Data said.

"Well if all we've got to go on is our gut feelings, then this is a good sign." Crusher reassured.

"I sure hope so." Geordi said.

As he finishes his adjustments to the emitter. "Alright, let's test it out."

Data then typed a few buttons on his wrist mounted emitter device. "Particle accelerators to full power." He reports as his exposed panel begins to blink rapidly, all the while a nearby console lights up with a graph showing dekyon emission levels.

Geordi leans over to study the readings. "Dekyon field active... Particle flux nominal... We're in business." He declares as he puts the final touches on Data's emitter.

"All we need to do now is wait." Crusher said.

With perfect comedic timing, the ship's red alert alarms blared and Riker's voice came on over the coms. "Senior staff, report to the bridge."

As one, Data, Geordi and Crusher made their way to the turbo lift. The elevator door opened to reveal Naruto and Sakura already inside.

"Sakura? You should be in your quarters." Crusher lectured as they stepped inside.

"Oh, not you too." Sakura sighed. "If this is the collision we are all worried about, then the safest place for me to be is by Naruto's side." Sakura explained.

Crusher sighed. "Bridge." She ordered the computer. The doors closed and the turbo lift resumed its course. "Fine, just don't do anything to overstress yourself."

"Like stand by helplessly, not knowing if we will or won't crash the ship?" Sakura asked dryly.

"We don't know that for sure." Crusher stated.

"I know, but I'd be uncertain about it if I stayed back in the room, so I'd rather be by his side and know what's going on." Sakura said seriously.

"Fine." Crusher gave in. "Did you manage to finish your seal, Naruto?"

"No, not enough time, I hope you guys fared better on your end." Naruto said just as they arrived on the bridge.

"Our sensors didn't pick it up until we were almost on top of it." Ro reported as they stepped off the turbo lift.

The crew on the elevator rush to take their seats. Sakura stands behind a seated Naruto as he man's his post. Riker looks back to address Picard and gives a brief expression of surprise at seeing Sakura on deck, but one look from Naruto lets the second in command know that there are more pressing matters to attend to.

"How do you think we handled this last time?" Riker asks Picard.

"For all we know, it could be the same way we're handling it now." Naruto said.

"That may be, but we can't second guess ourselves." Picard stated.

"What if not second guessing ourselves is what keeps us from making the right decision?" Riker suggested.

Picard considered this, but knew there was simply no good answer. "Back us off, Ensign." He ordered Ro. "Nice and slow."

"Aye sir." Ro answered only for her console to beep. "Helm controls not responding."

"The distortion field is fluctuating." Data warned as the cloud on the main screen rippled.

"The hell is that..." Sakura said to no one in particular as a ship started to emerge. Just then all the lights in the ship flickered before shutting off. A moment in darkness was replaced by the crimson glow of emergency lights.

"All main systems just went down!" Geordi reported.

"Auxiliary systems are not responding." Naruto informed.

"We have to leave now." Troi said to Picard.

"Shields up! Evasive maneuvers!" Riker ordered as the ghost ship loomed ever closer.

"Shields inoperable!" Worf reported.

"Helm is offline." Ro reported.

"The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty-six seconds." Data added.

Sakura squinted her eyes at the incoming ship and almost immediately recognized the design. "Captain, that's a Federation ship!" She informed.

"Try to hail them!" Picard ordered.

Worf did just that, but nothing. "No response."

Picard gripped his captain's chair, he feared he had already doomed them all. "Suggestions?"

"Decompress the main shuttle bay. The resulting explosion should push us out of the way." Riker suggested.

"Captain, I recommend we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory." Data cut in.

"Make it so." Picard ordered.

"Wait. What if this was our mistake?" Sakura pointed out.

"There is no time to second guess! Data, that's an order!" Picard shouted as the ship was near right on top of them.

"Aye sir." Data complied before engaging the tractor beam.

The android furiously typed in the command into his console. The Enterprise emitted a wide beam that tried to deflect the other ship. The crew on the bridge all held their breath as the old ship drew closer without slowing in the slightest.

"Brace for impact!" Riker shouted over the coms, but it was too late. The older vessel slammed into the port nacelle, Picard could feel it in his teeth as metal tore into metal, then the alarms started to blare.

"Damage report!" Riker shouted.

"Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship!" Crusher reported.

"Port side nacelle sustained a direct hit. Plasma leaking into the ship." Data reported.

"We've got to eject the core!" Geordi shouted.

Aboard the Enterprise-E, all was chaos. Crewmen from every station and position ran like ants through the hallways, the metal structure of ship giving off a ghastly wail as its beams bent beyond their natural limits. Explosions rung out from the engine room, cooking men alive while tossing the less fortunate out to the freezing grip of space. On the bridge, Picard and the rest of the commanding officers barked commands at one another.

"All hands to escape pods!" Picard ordered as he kept a death grip on his captain's chair, as if his palm could hold together the entire ship long enough to save a handful of souls.

"Captain! Warp core breach imminent!" Geordi reported.

"Eject the core!" Riker ordered as he stood over Data.

"Core ejection is offline! Unable to eject!" Data reported, his gaze fell upon Riker's collar and the android knew what message he had to send. He typed in his five-letter message into his emitter as fast as his android fingers would allow.

"We've got hull breaches in decks 17 through 12!" Naruto reported from his station while Sakura held a death grip on Naruto's shoulders for any kind of reassurance.

"Starboard nacelle collapsed! We're venting drive plasma!" Geordi reported. The starboard nacelle suddenly flashed and jolted the ship into a rapid spin.

"Warp core breach in progress!" Data informed.

"ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP! I REPEAT, ALL HANDS ABANDON-"

Picard never got to finish his order as the ship exploded.

For Naruto, time seemed to slow down, the alarms and screams grew silent, all Naruto felt was the touch of his wife on his shoulder. He turned back to see her already staring into her eyes with the same hopeless look. They both knew this was the end. They could feel the ship rumbling beneath their feet.

There was no time to think, only to act. Naruto knew this as he threw himself out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Sakura. Kurama's chakra bleeding through Naruto's every pore. He mixed in his sage chakra and enveloped Sakura and himself in the Golden Kyuubi cloak just the explosion ripped through the bridge, tearing the ship apart. Fire and plasma swirled all around them, yet the Kyuubi cloak kept them safe from death's grip.

"I'm scared..." Sakura cried in his ear.

"It's alright, Sakura-chan, it'll be alright." Naruto promised even as he sensed all of their friends and family being snuffed out in fire.

The explosions jostled them about like grapes in a blender. The artificial gravity was gone and with it any sense of up or down. All they could do was hold on.

 _'Please God, just let us survive a few minutes more. Enough to find an intact escape pod. Just let me live long enough to get them to safety... That's all...'_ Naruto prayed. He prayed as hard as any man could to save his budding family.

One final explosion rocked them to their core, and just like that, the world grew still. Naruto kept his eyes closed, feeling something metal poking him in the chest. He opened one eye to look into Sakura's beautiful green eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked, hardly believing that they had actually survived.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked again before looking down at the jagged metal shard piercing through his love's heart. He couldn't breathe.

"Sakura-chan..." He gasped again as the last of his previous oxygen slipped out of his lips and disappeared into the void of space. Naruto choked trying to call out to Sakura again, that old creeping terror returned to him, the icy darkness of space crept back up his limbs as his sage mode began to fail. He held Sakura close. Waiting for the end.

* * *

2 days previously...

"GOD DAMMIT!" Sakura cursed as she threw down her losing hand.

"Hehehe..." Riker smiled as he raked in his winnings.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, it's just a game." Naruto said as he handed his cards back to be reshuffled.

"Oh, be quiet..." Sakura said sourly.

"My, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Riker teased as he handed Data his cards.

Sakura gripped the side of the table, leaving indents from her fingers in the wood.

"She wasn't even using chakra." Naruto sweat dropped. Then he realized that one of his beads of sweat wasn't sweat at all, it was a tear. 'Huh...weird...' Naruto thought.

"Deal the next hand." Sakura ordered.

Data was about to deal the next hand when Dr. Crusher entered.

"Hi everyone, sorry that I'm late." Crusher greeted.

"Oh not at all. Riker is just kicking our butts as usual." Naruto greeted.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed, Riker." Naruto said. "Normally back home I win these games by dumb luck."

"Well that's the thing to remember, Lieutenant. It's not all about luck." Riker smiled, even when something felt off.

"Riker has a nearly unbeatable poker face. You'll have to be really good at reading people to beat him." Crusher said.

"Yeah, mister emotional... intelligence..." Sakura said to Naruto, the words feeling hollow and over used before she even said them.

She looked up and saw that everyone was eyeing each other with suspicion. As if they could all tell what the others were thinking.

"Something wrong, Worf?" Riker asked the crewman next to him.

"I am experiencing nIb'poH." Worf said.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"It is the Klingon word for déjà vu." Riker answered.

"Oh...yea I'm getting that too." Sakura said.

"Me too." Naruto said as he wiped the tear from his eye.

"Are...are you crying?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"I don't think so. I don't feel sad." Naruto answered.

"Dry eyes?" Crusher asked

"Um...yeah, that's gotta be it." Naruto said as he blinked several times to moisten up his eyes.

"Data, can you lay out the cards?" Crusher requested.

"Certainly." Data said and began dealing the cards. Everyone looked at Riker's pile, expecting to see a Seven of Diamonds, instead they saw a Three of Hearts. They then looked at Worf who was given a Three of Clubs instead of a Jack of Hearts. Naruto got the Three of Diamonds instead of a Four of Diamonds. And Sakura was given the Three of Spades like everyone predicted.

"All 3's..." Sakura gasped out.

"That's a heck of a coincidence." Riker said.

"Keep dealing." Crusher said.

Data continued dealing, granting Crusher a Queen, himself an Ace, Riker a King, Worf a Jack, Naruto a Ten, and Sakura a Nine. He went around the table twice more and everyone gasped in astonishment when they all received three-of-a-kind.

"We all get three's... then three-of-a-kind?" Crusher said astonished.

"How is that even possible?" Sakura asked.

"It's...it's just improbable, right?" Naruto asked, equally astonished.

"I do not know. The odds of this happening are 7.9 trillion to one." Data said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like you know."

"Are you accusing him of stacking the deck?" Sakura asked.

"No. He just told us the odds. The high odds. That's what improbable means." Naruto said.

"He meant that he doesn't know how this happened." Riker clarified.

"Okay then. I just didn't know what he meant. I thought he was joking or something." Naruto defended.

"No I was not." Data said.

Before anyone could say anything else, the ship's coms came to life. "Ogawa to Dr. Crusher."

"Crusher here...is it Geordi?" Crusher asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." Ogawa replied.

"On my way." Crusher replied before cutting off the coms. She started to get up before pausing a moment. "care to join me?" She asked Sakura.

"Aren't I on maternity leave?"

"I have a feeling this is going to be more than routine."

Sakura raised her eyebrows yet had a sneaking suspicion that Crusher was right. "I guess I'll be back later tonight." She said to her husband.

"I'll be up sharpening kunai." He replied before kissing her goodbye.

"Alright." Sakura smiled before following Crusher to the turbo lift.

"Have any idea what this could be?" Sakura asked.

"What do you think it is?" Crusher asked back.

"Hmm...something tells me it has something to do with dizziness." Sakura guessed.

"And what do you base that on?"

"Gut feelings." Sakura shrugged as they stepped into the turbo lift.

"Sick bay." Crusher ordered. "Funny thing is, I'm getting that same feeling."

Sakura's eyes went wide. It was one thing for them to agree on the same diagnosis and treatment. They were both experts after all. But to both agree on the same prediction? It was just more of the oddity that was the poker game.

"This is too strange to be a coincidence..." Sakura mused.

"Well what else could it be?" Crusher asked.

"Well it could be...no...maybe not that." Sakura mused.

"What?" Crusher asked.

"I was gonna suggest that it was a Genjutsu, but for some reason that doesn't seem right." Sakura said.

"Oh, well if you're certain." Crusher said as they arrived at the sick bay.

"I'm not really certain, but...I don't know." Sakura said as she laid eyes on Geordi.

"Lieutenant Sakura? But I thought you were on maternity leave." Geordi said upon seeing Sakura."Dr. Crusher asked me to tag along."

"I see, alright then."

"What seems to be the trouble?" Crusher asked as she picked up a nearby medical tricord and started scanning Geordi.

"I just had a sudden onset of dizziness and a headache while I was working." He explained.

"Have you had this before?" Sakura asked.

"Now that you mentioned it...I think I have..." Geordi admitted.

"Do you recall when?" Crusher asked.

"No I don't." Geordi said, making Sakura and Crusher look at each other with uneasiness.

"Let's check the medical logs." Crusher suggested.

"I got that." Sakura said as she pulled up his medical records. "Seems he was in here in regards to his visor. It was for headaches, but not for dizziness. Ear infection maybe?"

"That's what I'm thinking. But that's not what's important. How can the both of us be so sure he had these symptoms before?" Crusher asked.

"Must be déjà vu." Geordi shrugged.

Crusher gave him a quizzical look. "Both of us? At the same time? And on the way here, Sakura and I had the same premonition that you came to me for dizziness."

Crusher walks over to the drawer and pulls out a medical instrument. "Let's run an optical diagnostic."

"For an ear infection?" Sakura doubts.

"I've got a hunch." Crusher says as she motions Geordi over to the instrument. He humors her and sits down in front of the machine, resting his chin on the headrest. Crusher connects his visor to the diagnostic instrument and types in a few commands.

"Hold still...this pulse may be a little bright." Crusher says as she taps in the final command. The machine briefly hums and a light is projected into Geordi's visor. Sakura stands next to Crusher to analyze the results with her on the monitor.

"That's odd." Crusher says. "Have you made any changes to your visor lately?"

"No. Why?" Geordi asks.

"I'm detecting a slight phase-shift in your visual receptors..." Crusher says.

An hour or so later, Sakura returned to her private quarters filled with more questions than answers. _'What in the Hell is going on, on this ship?'_

"What's up?" Naruto asked when greeted by a serious looking Sakura at the door.

"Weird shit on this ship, that's what." Sakura replied as she flopped down on the couch.

"I know what you mean" Naruto muttered before he playfully lifted up Sakura's legs so that he could sit down on the couch and prop up her feet on his lap. Sakura then noticed the bowl of ice cream sitting on the coffee table.

"That for me?" Sakura asked.

"I think so. I figured that you'd want some once you got back."

"You're right, I did." Sakura smiled. "Can you hand it to me? I'm a bloated whale right now..."

"No. You got me trapped underneath your feet." Naruto joked as he created a Shadow Clone to hand his lady love her ice cream. The clone did so with an overabundance of grace and poise which made Sakura giggle. Once she had her snack, the clone vanished, and Sakura took her first bite. Her eyes shot open.

"Buttercream. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess?" Naruto shrugged.

"Do you really think that?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"No I don't. I can't explain it, but I was certain that you'd want that specific flavor. And I'd swear on a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen that this wasn't the first time I've surprised you with ice cream." Naruto said with certainty.

Sakura blinked. "I...think you're right...but I can't recall when."

"You've had cravings for ice cream before, right? You must have." Naruto said, leaning in close.

"Yea I have...but you've never gotten the right flavor without me telling you."

"Well you keep changing your preferences. It's chocolate one day and blueberry the next. How can I get it right without asking you?"

"That's why I'm shocked! You knew what flavor I wanted without even telling you."

"And this wasn't just me picking the right flavor out of thousands that the Enterprise has on file. I knew you wanted." He added.

"How though?"

Naruto just shrugged before noticing something about Sakura's ice cream. "Huh, that's weird."

"What?"

"It's nothing. I'm probably just grasping at straws." Naruto tried to wave off.

"No, tell me."

"Well...tell me if I'm wrong. But whenever you as the computer for ice cream, you get four scoops, right?" Naruto pointed out.

"Yea...?" Sakura said quizzically before looking down at her bowl and saw 3 scoops. "Good god..."

"Freaky, right? It's gotta be a glitch or maybe I'm just remembering it wrong."

Sakura put her spoon down. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

"Why? Because there aren't 4 scoops?" Naruto asked.

"Because it freaked me out, you Baka!" Sakura snapped.

Naruto flinched. "Okay, okay!" He held his hands up defensively.

Sakura's rage instantly subsided when she realized she had snapped at her husband. "I'm sorry..."

"It's hormones...don't worry about it." Naruto said softly as he wrapped her up in a tender hug.

"I just hate myself for yelling at you for no reason. I promised myself I would stop doing that." She cried into Naruto's chest.

"Hey...it happens. I'm used to it." Naruto then chuckled. "Hell, I've been dealing with it since we were kids."

"It's stupid of me..." Sakura whined.

"Hey now. You tolerate my stupid moments and I tolerate your angry outbursts. At the end of the day, it works." Naruto soothed.

"Doesn't make me feel any better about it..."

Naruto lifted Sakura's head up by her chin and kissed her forehead, sending a warm tingle outward throughout her whole body. "You're too hard on yourself." Naruto smiled.

Sakura nuzzled into Naruto chest some more and realized once again that he was right.

"I wanna go to bed now." She requested. Naruto was all too happy to oblige. It had certainly been a long day. At least it felt like one.

* * *

The next morning, they awoke early and Sakura joined Naruto in training the ANBU recruits in a move called the cat kick. After a short demonstration, the two Jounin had the trainees pair up and try out the trick kick on each other, with some surprising results.

"Wow. These guys caught on fast." Naruto praised to Sakura while Sol executed a perfect cat kick at April, who managed to implement her own counter move that Sakura had taught them all. "It's like they had been practicing this move before I ever even taught them."

"I know what you mean. I'm impressed, Naruto." Sakura admitted. "You found yourself a really great group of trainees."

"Yea no kiddin." Naruto smiled.

"Lieutenants Naruto and Sakura, please report to the observation lounge for a senior staff meeting." They heard over the coms.

"On our way." Naruto called back. "Trainees, that's enough for today. Great work, all of you. You've even got my wife impressed." Naruto chuckled before covering his mouth with his hand to hide it from Sakura. "No easy feat, believe me." He joked.

"I heard that..." Sakura muttered.

"Hey, we got a meeting to go to." Naruto said, quickly changing the subject.

"Yea, yea..." Sakura grumbled, thinking of how she would get him back later.

Later in the meeting room, Data was just finishing up the recording that Dr. Crusher presented, ending with Picard ordering an abandon ship.

"Sweet sage..." Naruto gasped out.

"The phrase "collision course," suggests we collided with something." Troi pointed out.

Geordi nodded. "Worf refers to a "distortion." If this were a temporal distortion, and if we were close enough to it... it's possible that a large enough explosion might've ruptured the space-time continuum." He typed some calculations into the computer. "We collided... exploded... and got stuck in this repeating loop of time."

They all paused to consider this.

"If you're right about this...perhaps we could escape the loop by avoiding the collision..." Picard said.

"That's our guess." Geordi said.

"Maybe we should reverse course." Worf suggested.

"That could've been what we did to get us in this situation." Sakura pointed out.

Picard thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "We can't afford to start second guessing ourselves. We'll stay on our present course until we have reason to change it." He said. "In the meantime, let's do everything we can to avoid a collision."

Geordi then spoke up. "Captain, we've been seeing the number three all over the ship..." Startling Naruto and Sakura. "On consoles...in a poker game."

"In Sakura's ice cream bowl. There were three scoops instead of the usual four." Naruto added.

"And in some med-sci reports in sick bay." Sakura added.

"In total, we have encountered two thousand eighty-six conspicuous examples of the number "three."" Data stated.

"All these "threes" can't be coming up by accident." Geordi stated.

"Maybe somebody's trying to tell us something." Riker contributed.

"We came to the same conclusion." Geordi said. "So we ran a ship wide diagnostic. The only unusual thing we found was a dekyon field modulation in Data's positronic subprocessors."

"What could be causing it?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. But if I wanted to send information from one loop to the next... I might have used a method like a dekyon emission." Geordi stated. The crew all paused to consider this.

"Maybe the number 3 is a message from us in the previous loop." Naruto suggested.

"If that were true. What could the message, "three," mean?" Picard asked. Once again, the crew paused to consider this riddle. It was a tricky one.

"Three...three..." Naruto muttered to himself out loud. "Three-man squad...three tailed beast...three pronged kunai?" He halfheartedly suggested.

"Maybe we should run a level three diagnostic on all key systems?" Riker suggested.

"Good idea. And I'll have the computer run a pattern-matching algorithm based on the number three." Geordi said.

"Bridge to Captain Picard." Ro spoke over the coms.

"Go ahead." Picard replied.

"We are getting unusual readings...twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow."

Everyone in the meeting room looked at one another in astonishment. Could this be the dreaded catastrophe that had been foretold? The Captain certainly wasn't taking any chances.

"Red alert!" Picard ordered over the coms, signaling to the ship alarms to start blaring and flashing all over the decks.

"Our sensors didn't pick it up until we were almost on top of it." Ro reported as they stepped off the turbo lift.

The crew on the elevator rush to take their seats. Sakura stands behind a seated Naruto as he man's his post. Riker looks back to address Picard and gives a brief expression of surprise at seeing Sakura on deck, but one look from Naruto lets the second in command know that there are more pressing matters to attend to.

"How do you think we handled this last time?" Riker asks Picard.

"For all we know, it could be the same way we're handling it now." Naruto said.

"That may be, but we can't second guess ourselves." Picard stated.

"What if not second guessing ourselves is what keeps us from making the right decision?" Riker suggested.

Picard considered this, but knew there was simply no good answer. "Back us off, Ensign." He ordered Ro. "Nice and slow."

"Aye sir." Ro answered only for her console to beep. "Helm controls not responding."

"The distortion field is fluctuating." Data warned as the cloud on the main screen rippled.

"The hell is that..." Sakura said to no one in particular as a ship started to emerge. Just then all the lights in the ship flickered before shutting off. A moment in darkness was replaced by the crimson glow of emergency lights.

"All main systems just went down!" Geordi reported.

"Auxiliary systems are not responding." Naruto informed.

"We have to leave now." Troi said to Picard.

"Shields up! Evasive maneuvers!" Riker ordered as the ghost ship loomed ever closer.

"Shields inoperable!" Worf reported.

"Helm is offline." Ro reported.

"The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty-six seconds." Data added.

Sakura squinted her eyes at the incoming ship and almost immediately recognized the design. "Captain, that's a Federation ship!" She informed.

"Try to hail them!" Picard ordered.

Worf did just that, but nothing. "No response."

Picard gripped his captain's chair, he feared he had already doomed them all. "Suggestions?"

"Decompress the main shuttle bay. The resulting explosion should push us out of the way." Riker suggested.

"Captain, I recommend we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory." Data cut in.

"Make it so." Picard ordered. Everyone held their breath, Naruto gripped Sakura's hand as tight as he could, waiting for the inevitable

Data started rapidly typing in the commands when he came to a powerful revelation. At speeds that only an android could achieve, Data looked over at Riker as he leaned over the console and noticed the commander's collar. Only then did he know the answer to the riddle their past selves had sent him. Data typed in the new commands and the ship's main shuttle bay was decompressed. The Enterprise lurched forward, causing the other ship to miss them completely. Just as this happens, Naruto and Sakura can feel a pull against them. Like the sensation of feeling a thousand lives snuffled out again and again before their senses snap back to normal. They both exhale, they didn't know why, but they knew they had succeeded.

On the bridge, power had seemingly been restored like nothing had happened.

"We are clear of the distortion, Captain." Worf reports. Everyone sighs in relief. Picard then turns to Data.

"Data…what happened?"

"I deduced that the tractor beam would not be successful. Given the amount of times the number 3 had appeared, I deduced that Commander Riker's suggestion was the correct one. I therefore decompressed the main shuttle bay." Data explained.

"But how did you know that the number 3 coronated to Commander Riker?" Picard asked, still reeling from how close they were to crashing.

"The three pips on Commander Riker's collar. Indicating his rank." Data stated, pointing to the three-pip insignia on Riker's collar. Riker looked down at his own collar before slapping Data on the back in congratulations.

"You must have picked up a message we sent from the last loop…" Geordi stated. "And stacked the deck in the poker game without realizing it."

"That is possible, Commander." Data stated. "I may also have been inadvertently responsible for the unexplained appearances of the number "three.""

Everyone paused to let that sink in.

"Mister Worf, end Red Alert. See if you can access a Federation time-base beacon. Find out how long we've been in this causality loop." Picard grimly ordered, dreading the answer.

"Aye, sir." Worf said as he began his task. The red flashes and alarms die down as the crew prepares for the worst-case scenario.

"Time-base confirms that our chronometers are off by seventeen point four days." Data says, letting everyone breath another sigh of relief.

"Just half a month…" Sakura sighed.

"Reset them, Mister Worf." Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir." Worf says just as the monitors start to flash again.

"Sensors back online." Naruto reported as Sakura hugged him from behind in joy.

"And what of the other ship?" Picard asked, only one last loose thread.

"Scanning the other ship...Registry is NX-05, Atlantis...It is a NX class..." Worf said in awe.

"That ship would be over 200 years old by now." Riker commented.

"Is it abandoned?" Picard asked.

"No, sir...There are 92 life forms on it..." Naruto said in awe, as he read the scan results.

"Captain...They are hailing us." Worf said.

Picard's eyes went wide before turning back to the view screen. "On screen..."

The screen changed views to show a woman in a very old Starfleet uniform. She had short black hair, hazel eyes and a short but full figure.

"This is Captain Amber Martin of the Starfleet ship Atlantis." She greeted. "Can we render assistance?"

"Uh...this is Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise." Picard greeted back. "We were just going to ask you the same thing."

"Enterprise?" Captain Martin asked. "I'm afraid the design of your ship is unknown to us."

"Captain...do you know the date?" Picard asked.

"Of course. Its April 19th, 2162...why?"

The crew on the bridge all looked at one another in astonishment.

 _'Oh boy...'_ Naruto thought.

"Captain...I think it would be wise for you and your senior officers to beam aboard. There is much we need to discuss." Picard offered.

Captain Martin was skeptical. "Captain, what do your computers say the date is?"

Picard shifted around uneasily before sighing. "April 19...2372. I'm afraid you have been lost in the Typhon expanse for over 200 years."

At that, whispers and murmurs went around the bridge of the Atlantis like wild fire.

"Are you certain, Captain? It only feels like we've just gotten here. We entered the expanse, our systems went down briefly and then we nearly hit your ship." Amber informed.

"We have noticed that ourselves." Data started. "However, our chronometers have detected that we are 17 days out of sync."

"Captain, they are correct." Captain Amber's first officer said. "Our chronometers show that...we've been here for 210 years..."

"Holy shit..." One of her Ensigns spoke.

"How...How can that be possible?" Amber gasped.

"I'll send you and your away team the coordinates to beam over. We'll share with you our findings. Picard out." Picard said before the screen cut back to the old ship.

"210 years..." Sakura gasped out.

"And we were only trapped for 17 days." Naruto stated. His words hung in the air as a lone Ensign sent the coordinates to the Atlantis.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Hey everybody, hope you enjoyed that chapter. For those of you who haven't guessed yet, this chapter was inspired/ripped off from Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5 episode 18 Cause and Effect. You can find the episode on Netflix and I highly recommend giving it a watch. It's a fascinating episode and I'm glad we got to try out writing our own version of it.**

 **So what did you think? Did we do the episode justice? Would you like to see more occasional chapters like this? Or D) No that was horrible, stick to your own self-made chapters. Leave a review telling us what you think and we'll see you all in the next one.**


	20. Chapter 20: Chiyo Uzumaki

**Author's Note from Panda: Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting installment of Naruto and Sakura's Five Year Mission. As you can probably tell by the chapter title, it's gonna be a doozy.**

 **But before we get into that, I thought I would clarify a continuity error that many of you have pointed out in the hopes that it would win Cmartin and I some street cred back among the Trekkies.**

 **Yes, we mentioned the USS Bozeman in chapter 18 The Wedding as a nod to the popular Star Trek TNG episode Cause and Effect. Which was later recommended to us before The Wedding chapter was published as an episode we might consider rewriting into our own story. I then fell in love with the episode and convinced Cmartin that we should write it, which he agreed to, so we did. While we were writing this, and before we published chapter 18, Cmartin thought it would be a fun little thing to do to include his fiancé Amber into the story as the Captain of a spaceship caught in a temporal loop (which we changed to the USS Atlantis to distance it from the Bozeman.) Again, all for the sake of a nice little nod to one of our loved ones by immortalizing her in this story.**

 **To summarize, we know that the USS Bozeman is supposed to be the ship that the Enterprise frees from the temporal loop. But in this crossover universe, it didn't. The Bozeman was saved by someone else and the Atlantis just so happened to be caught in the exact same conundrum. We referenced the Bozeman in ch18 to hint at the upcoming ch19 and added in Captain Amber as a fun little wink to a certain amazing woman.**

 **With that being said it is still flattering to see Star Trek fans that care enough to point out this continuity error. Keep it up. It tells us that you care about our story and that makes us feel all fuzzy inside. Obviously, we won't capture every inconsistency and there are times when we won't change it to fit better with this story, but we do strive to write coherent stories that everyone can enjoy. Just like every other author on this site.**

 **As always, we are so grateful for the love and attention this story gets from Naruto and Star Trek fans alike. Please keep reviewing and telling us how we can make this story better.**

 **And as always…Enjoy.**

* * *

It was another typical morning aboard the Enterprise. The florescent lights were shining, the computers were beeping, and the fledgling Uzumaki family was enjoying their morning rituals. The extremely pregnant Sakura Uzumaki was currently seated on the couch, wearing a green long neck sweater and sweat pants, reading about a lesser known historical figure from Earth's history: Mary Seacole. Unfortunately, instead of enjoying her fascinating book, she had a scowl on her brow born of a foul odor lingering in the room.

The source of that odor just so happened to be laying prone right in front of her, doing one finger push-ups while a horse sized 9 Tailed Fox sat on his back.

"196...197...198...199...200!" Naruto declared as he completed the latest exercise in his light morning work-out before his shift on the Bridge.

 **"Finally,"** Kurama said as he leapt off his host's back.

"Hanging squat thrusts." Naruto declared as he leapt up to the ceiling and started doing deep knee bends while his feet stuck to the ceiling.

That teared it, Sakura couldn't handle it anymore. She closed her book with a snap, grabbing her husband's attention.

"Hey Naruto, can you knock off the exercise? Your sweat is stinking up the place."

Naruto looked at Sakura with a curious expression. "Huh? But I thought you loved the smell of my sweat. Yesterday you couldn't get enough of it." Remembering how yesterday Sakura had literally stuck her nose in Naruto's armpit when he got back home from his shift. All to get a full whiff of that intoxicating scent.

"Well it sticks today. I am literally fighting the urge to vomit." Sakura stated.

Naruto immediately stopped in his tracks. "Jeez Sakura, I wished you'd tell me beforehand. Sure, I'll move no problem." Naruto said.

"No, it's too late. I can tell the odor has already seeped into the walls. I'll just go to Kurama's room. Now he smells nice." Sakura stated as she wiggled herself out of the seat cushions.

 **"Ha, shoes on the other paw now, Kit."** Kurama chuckled.

As Sakura stood up however, a sudden rush of liquids ran down her legs. For a horrifying second, she thought she peed herself. Then she put two and two together.

"Oh shove it, fuzzballs. It's just her hormones being all out of whack." Naruto said as he dropped down to the floor.

"Naruto..." Sakura said in a panic.

"What's up, Sakura-chan?" Naruto absentmindedly asked.

"It's...It's time..."

"Time for what? My shift doesn't start for another half hour. Plenty of time to shower." Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"THE BABY IS COMING YOU DUNCE!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto and Kurama literally leaned back from the gale storm that was Sakura's vocal cords.

"T-the baby-THE BABY IS COMING?!" Naruto shouted back, equal parts ecstatic and terrified.

"YES! MY WATER JUST BROKE!" She shouted, pointing to her soaked sweatpants.

 **"Oh sweet Sage."** Kurama muttered before dashing over to the coms network and radioed Dr. Crusher.

 **"Vixen's Kit is on the way!"** Kurama shouted.

"Sickbay here, can you repeat?" Crusher said, not sure who was talking or what about.

 **"The baby is coming! Sakura's water just broke!"** Kurama repeated as Naruto dashed into the bedroom to grab the wheelchair Crusher had lent them for just this occasion.

"Understood. I'm on my way. Crusher out."

Kurama turned back from the coms panel to see Sakura just standing in her own puddle trying not to lose it, while Naruto dashed back into the living room with the wheelchair.

"Sakura, get on!" Naruto ordered.

Sakura slowly sat down in the wheelchair, but as soon as she did, the first contraction hit and it hit hard.

"OoooooAAAAAAHHHH! SON OF A-AAAAGH!" Sakura cried.

"Sakura-chan! What's wrong?!" Naruto exclaimed in a panic.

 **"It's the contractions, Kit. That's normal."** Kurama informed.

"Oh right, contractions, right! Time it!" Naruto ordered as his eyes scanned the room for a clock.

 **"0807."** Kurama said as the door chime sounded.

"It's open!" Naruto called out. The door slid open and in walked Crusher and Hajime.

"Hey guys, how's my favorite cousin doing?" Hajime Haruno asked, trying to keep the mood light as he and Crusher rushed over to Sakura's side.

"I have...a baby the...size if a...watermelon...trying to...come out a hole...the size of a grape...how do you...think I'm doing...?" Sakura gasped.

"You don't have to give me the specifics, I took an anatomy class too." Hajime said as he stretched his disposable gloves over his hands.

"Has there been any contractions?" Crusher asked as she checked Sakura's vitals.

 **"One so far-"**

"AAAAAAHHH!" Sakura screamed.

 **"Make that two."**

"Time!" Naruto called out, remembering his and Sakura's birthing classes held by Crusher.

 **"0809. Two minutes apart, roughly."** Kurama reported.

"Crap, is that bad?" Naruto asked, not remembering all of the training.

"I would be concerned if it was seconds, not minutes." Crusher said.

"Oh thank God." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God for what?! I'm in pain you ass!" Sakura snapped.

"Nothing, I take it back!" Naruto said quickly. "Can't we go already?"

"One sec." Crusher said as she finished getting the vitals. "Okay we can go."

"Right." Naruto said as he pushed Sakura wheelchair out into the hall while Kurama cleared the way ahead.

This was it. Their daughter was coming.

* * *

Meanwhile on the bridge...

Picard and the rest of the bridge hands were enjoying a boring morning of analyzing stratospheric data taken from the planet Onyix that they were currently orbiting.

The data to be gained would benefit some diplomat or scientist from some planet among the Federation. It hardly mattered who and doubtlessly wouldn't make the task any less tedious for Picard and his men. Which made it all the more joyous when the computer sensed that there was a frantic communication made from one of the living quarters to the Sickbay.

 _'Oh thank goodness.'_ Picard thought as he keyed his com link on his Captain's chair. "Captain Picard to Dr. Crusher. What seems to be the trouble?"

"No trouble, Captain. We're about to have a third Uzumaki." Crusher reported.

Picard and the other bridge crew members all looked at one another joyfully. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"Yes, sir. Sakura is in active labor as we speak." Crusher reported.

A sense of jubilee ran through the officers who overheard this message, which was all of them. For seemingly as long as the crew had known them, Sakura had been with child. This was a dream come true to many.

"That is indeed fantastic news, doctor. We eagerly await the new addition to the crew. And Sakura, if you can hear me, congratulations to you and Naruto." Picard smiled.

"AAAAAAAA-THANKYOOO-AAAAHHH!" Sakura cried out over the coms.

Picard couldn't help but smile wider. Despite the fact that Sakura was in intense pain, it was for a happy reason.

"Good luck to you all. Picard out."

"Thank you, sir!" Naruto shouted into the coms over Sakura's screaming before cutting the link.

"If that ain't a break from a boring day I don't know what is." Riker said.

"This calls for a boghDI' lopno'." Worf declared.

"And that is?" Riker asked.

"Among the Klingon Empire, it is the celebration of birth where close family and friends of the mother welcome a new warrior to the Empire." Data explained.

"And how do you celebrate that? With lots of drinking I hope." Riker said.

"Of course, through the consumption of blood wine and through numerous battles we dedicate to the new warrior ghu, that is baby. We also honor Kahless and Lady Lukara, who both fought off 500 warriors at the Great Hall at Qam-Chee overnight before making passionate love and conceived their first child together." Worf explained.

"Agreed. A celebration is in order for the new arrival." Picard said.

"Perhaps with more blood wine and less bloodshed." Riker suggested.

"Agreed." Picard nodded.

"Seconded." Ro said while manning the helm.

Just then, the tactical console that Worf was manning started beeping.

"Sir. Sensors have detected an unidentified ship heading towards our location." Worf reported.

"Put it up on screen." Picard ordered.

"Unable to. The ship is too far away." Worf said.

"Hail them." Picard ordered.

Worf tapped a few icons on his console, but shook his head. "No response."

"Continue trying. Data, divert scanners towards the incoming ship. Find out what we are dealing with. Riker, increase power to shields. I don't want to be caught off guard." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." They all responded just as a ship decloaked in front of them.

"Romulan ship decloaking, dead ahead." Worf reported.

"On screen." Picard ordered. The view screen appeared and showed a small Romulan ship directly in front of them. "Hail them."

"Sir...They are hailing us." Worf said.

Picard raised an eyebrow. What could the recently treated Romulans want with them? "On screen."

The screen changed view to a well decorated Romulan commander.

"I am Commander Volaris of the Tal'Shiar. We demand you hand over the one called Naruto immediately."

"For what purpose?" Picard asked.

"That is none of your concern." Volaris spoke. "Do as I say and you and your crew will not be harmed."

"And you presume that I will just roll over and obey your commands?" Picard scoffed.

"I will do as I will, with or without your approval, Captain...You will hand him over or be met with force."

"I'm afraid you are in no position to threaten us, Commander. The Romulan government have signed a cease fire with the Federation." Picard warned.

"I care very little about what the Senate does. The Tal'Shiar will get what they want and you will cooperate...Or you will die."

"You presume to take on the most advanced ship in the Federation fleet with a mere scout ship? I hope for your sake you have more to back up your threat." Picard inquired.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Volaris smirked as 10 Romulan D'Deridex class Warbirds decloaked around his ship.

Picard however did not back down. "Do you want war with the Federation against your people? That is all you will get if you attack our vessel. I suggest you turn around now before you doom your own race." Picard stated.

"If that's what it takes then so be it. I'm giving you 10 standard minutes to make your decision. Surrender the demon to us, or die." Volaris said before cutting the channel off.

"Data, how discreetly can we get a message out to Starfleet? Let them know that we need reinforcements." Picard quickly inquired.

"We cannot. They are jamming our communications." Data reported.

"What about jumping to warp speed? Retreating to friendly space?" Picard asked.

"They're ships have us in their tractor beams. We cannot go anywhere. Not without engaging them in ship to ship combat." Worf reported.

"What about a Shadow clone?" Riker suggested.

"Do you mean Naruto's Shadow Clones to overtake the ships or one giant Shadow Clone of the entire Enterprise to divert fire away from us while we escape?" Picard asked.

"One single Naruto clone. Have him create one with as much chakra as he can to make it seem real. We hightail it out of here and call for assistance." Riker clarified.

"What if we agreed to transport him over and he uses his Thunder God technique to transport back to the Enterprise once we are far enough away." Data suggested.

Picard thought about it for a moment. Both plans were risky in their own ways. Assuming Naruto could create such a special Shadow Clone, it could still be found out as a ruse before they could escape. If they replied on Naruto's Thunder God technique they risk if Naruto was somehow knocked unconscious upon entering the Romulan ship via chemical injection. That could be even more disastrous.

"Let me get Naruto on the coms to see what he thinks." Picard said.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Sickbay, Naruto was currently crying like a little girl as his wife squeezed the bones in his hand to dust. "Oh mother..." Naruto squeaked while Sakura cried out as another contraction hit her.

"Bridge to Lt. Naruto." Picard said over the coms.

"Go ahead..." Naruto squeaked in pain.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah...Just Sakura-chan grinding my hand into dust..."

"Baka! I am-"

"Pushing a watermelon through a grape, yeah I get it." Naruto cut her off.

Sakura took a swing at Naruto's head which he nimbly dodged.

"Go ahead." Naruto repeated into the coms as he continued to dodge Sakura's punches while holding her other hand.

"I need you on the bridge on the double. We have a crisis on our hands." Picard ordered.

"A crisis?" Naruto repeated, making Sakura stop swinging her fist at his head. "How bad?"

"Bad enough that I wouldn't ask you to leave your wife's bedside otherwise." Picard said.

"Damn...I'll be there soon."

"You have less than ten minutes." Picard stated.

"I'll teleport there in one." Naruto said before cutting the connection.

He turned back to Sakura. The love of his life was panting like a dog, her pink bangs were stuck to her forehead which was caked in sweat. She looked fearful, yet understanding. They both knew this was their lot in life as ninjas. To be called away by duty at a moment's notice.

"I have to go." Naruto whispered.

"I know..." Sakura panted.

Naruto kissed the diamond on her forehead. Sakura relished the feeling of his cool lips pressed against her burning brow.

Naruto and looked back at Crusher, Hajime, and the medical staff all looking at them. Naruto knew by the looks on their faces that none of them would let him down.

"I'll be back soon." Naruto promised.

 **"I'll stay here with her, Kit."** Kurama promised, earning a nod from the Jinchuriki.

"No...Kurama...you go with Naruto." Sakura ordered.

"I'd rather he stay here. I've got a bad feeling about this..." Naruto said grimly.

"Well I am in THEEEE-" Sakura cried as another contraction hit her. "-safest place on the ship. It's you I'm more worried about."

 **"She has a point, Kit...as much as I'd like to stay."**

Naruto sighed. "Fine. Just promise me you'll radio me if anything goes wrong."

"I will...I love you..." Sakura panted.

"Love you too." Naruto said as he gave her one last kiss on the lips before teleporting to Picard's side. Kurama looked around for a second before shrugging his shoulders and leaned over to lick Sakura on the cheek like he imagined a loyal canine companion would do.

 **"Was that awkward?"** Kurama asked.

"No...it was sweet..." Sakura smiled.

 **"Oh good, thought it was weird. You be safe."** Kurama said before vanishing in a puff of smoke back into Naruto's seal.

Naruto appeared on the bridge where the staff were all frantically typing away at their computers. Things had certainly gotten busy.

"Lieutenant Naruto reporting." Naruto said.

"Naruto...we have a critical situation and we need your input." Picard started.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked as the main screen was filled with incomprehensible data about shield strength.

"We're surrounded by a fleet of Romulan Warbirds. They are threatening to destroy the Enterprise and her crew unless we meet their demands."

"Which are?" Naruto asked.

"They want you."

Naruto looked curiously at Picard. "For what?"

"They won't say."

"Can they at least rule out that they are inviting me to a tea party?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

"I don't know. But they want you bad. So we came up with a couple of suggestions."

"Lay them on me."

"Alright, the first option might be tricky. We only have 8 minutes to respond so how fast would it take you to create a Shadow Clone that can take more than a few hits? Is such a thing even possible?"

"A blood clone?" Naruto put his fingers to his chin. "It's tricky, but possible. With less than 8 minutes to share it wouldn't last long. Maybe an hour."

"That's more than we need. We planned to send it in as decoy to trick the Romulans. It to stay around long enough for the Enterprise to get away from the Romulan fleet and then send a message to Starfleet."

"Alright. Are we going with that or did you have another plan?"

"The other plan was to send you over there and have you Thunder god back here once we got far enough away."

"Not a bad plan either. Riskier, sure, but it also gives me an idea." Naruto said.

"I figured you'd say that."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto smirked.

"I think so. Thunder God Seal on the inside of a shuttle. Your clone flies it into their docking bay and we have a Trojan Horse in one of the Romulan ships. Hopefully the main ship." Picard said.

"Great minds think alike. My buddy Shikamaru would be proud."

"The tactical genius? That's certainly high praise." Picard stated, remembering how Naruto and Sakura would always swear by their friend from the Leaf for his ability to quickly and effectively think up strategic plans on the fly. They talked about the Nara like an Earthling would talk about the great generals of history.

"Yup. So, I'll just duck out to the hallway for a bit. Keep those guys occupied for as long as you can." Naruto said before he headed out to the nearest sliding door.

"Naruto." Picard said before he got to the door.

"What's up?" Naruto asked.

Picard just smiled. "Good luck...my friend."

"Hey, don't get all sentimental on me. This is probably the least craziest thing I've done since I joined your crew." Naruto reminded him.

"I know."

Naruto nodded before ducking behind the nearest sliding door away from the bridge cameras. He fell into his meditative pose and was just about to bite down on his thumb when he realized that he was still in his sweaty workout clothes. 'Ah damn it.' Naruto thought as he began the jutsu anyway.

Back at on the bridge, Picard had Worf hail the leading Romulan ship.

The screen shifted to the Romulan Commander once again.

"What is your decision?" Volaris asked.

"I need to know specifically what you plan to do with my crewman. Do you plan on killing him or keeping him as a hostage for a ransom?" Picard inquired.

"If you really must know...The Praetor plans to extract his DNA and apply it to the Romulan military so that we will have his powers. Once we have succeeded, which we will, no one in the galaxy will stand in our way, not even the Borg."

Picard just gave an amused smirk. "You and your Praetor are fools. That will not work."

"You should hold your tongue, Federation Dog. Or we might just cut it out of you after we get the Earthling Naruto." The Captain threatened.

 _'Those fools don't even know he's an Elementian.'_ Picard thought.

"In that case, can you guarantee Naruto's safe return once your research is completed?"

"You don't understand, do you? Once he's on board, he will never be returning."

"Please, there is no need for unnecessary deaths. Allow my ship and my crew to go free. Our peoples are currently at peace. You could request that the Federation share with you it's knowledge on Naruto's power. For the betterment of all species. I could personally get you in contact with President Turrell and he could help you reach a satisfactory arrangement for all parties." Picard beseeched them.

"We have no interest in negotiating anything. We will take the demon for ourselves and we will do as we see fit with your ship and your crew."

"Very well. How do you wish us to transport Naruto to you?"

"I will send you the transport coordinates. After which, you will beam him over here immediately."

"I'm afraid that is impossible. In order to beam him aboard your vessel, we would leave ourselves open to being beamed aboard as well." Picard stated. Fearing that the Romulans would use that opportunity to board the Enterprise or beam a bomb aboard the ship.

"I personally have little use for your quaint vessel, or its inhabitants."

"Even still, allow us to send him to you via a scout vessel. He will fly over to you and dock in your port bay. You can even keep the vessel as a sign of good faith." Picard offered.

"You will transport him to the coordinates I have sent you or you will die." Volaris threatened before cutting the transmission. Picard's face hardened.

"Data, can the Romulan vessel sense if our transporter is operational?" Picard asked.

"Affirmative. Their sensors are similar in design to our own." Data informed.

"And how discreetly can you make our transporter non-operational?" Picard inquired.

"They would detect even the slightest power variance if I were to take them offline."

"So make them malfunction. This could mean the difference between life and death of the ship." Picard ordered.

"I will try." Data said.

"Good. Ensign Ro. As soon as he's aboard, set a course out of this system at maximum warp." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Ro said.

"Data, how is the transporter coming?" Picard asked.

"I have almost all transporters offline."

"Good. When you are done, try to use them to transport to the coordinates sent to us. Let the Romulans think we aren't trying to pull a fast one. Riker, having the docking bay prep a shuttle for Naruto's use. Assume that it is a one-way trip." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Riker responded.

* * *

Naruto meanwhile had just completed the lengthy weaving of hand signs required for the complicated jutsu. One wrong hand sign, one dip in the constant stream of chakra required, or even too much chakra could create an unstable clone. Which would either behave irrationally or just flop over unconscious. Heck, it could even turn into 140 pounds of dead body, suitable only for faking the user's death.

With all of this in mind, Naruto slapped his palms together in one final Tiger hand sign. "Blood Clone Jutsu!" Naruto cried. His hands began to glow and the blood from his thumb that had smeared all along his hands began to glow brighter still. They slowly drifted off of Naruto's hands and began compressing together a few feet away from the ninja. Some more blood flowed out of his open wound, mixing with his chakra and taking the form of person.

Naruto's breathing grew heavy. The very worst thing about this jutsu was it took a considerable amount of his blood. For blood clones meant to last for days it could easily take up to a litre of blood, 1/5th of what his adult body contained. Thankfully, for an hour, Naruto only had to use a quarter of a pint.

Soon the blood and the chakra finished forming and became a perfect clone of Naruto, right down to his work out clones. He appeared to be in a deep meditative stance with his eyes closed.

"Hey, you all there?" Naruto asked the clone.

The clone's eyes fluttered open and looked around. "Yea, I think so."

"You know what your mission is? You're not going to snap and attack anyone?" Naruto asked. Unfortunately, there was no sure-fire way to know if a Blood Clone was a true perfect clone mentally, not unless it was made to last for days.

"So long as they don't harm Sakura-chan or the baby, I'm good." The clone stated.

Naruto nodded. "Good. We just need you to keep them convinced that you are me for as long as possible. Try not to piss them off. You don't have enough chakra to "die" and not explode into smoke. Just stay alive until the hour is up. And with any luck we'll have saved the Enterprise again without lifting a finger."

"Right." The clone nodded. "And we'll save Sakura-chan and the baby."

"Yeah." Naruto smiled.

"You think she'll have Sakura-chan's hair?" The Blood Clone asked giddily.

"I hope so. That or Mom's red hair. They'd both look so beautiful." Naruto gushed.

"Wait, would she have these?" The clone asked as he pointed to his whisker marks.

Naruto paused. He hadn't really thought about that. Actually no, that wasn't true. Of course he had thought about it. His Blood Clone wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise.

"Maybe. I only have my whisker marks because my mom was Kurama's Jinchuriki while she was pregnant with me. Sakura-chan has been around Kurama a lot, but their chakra networks aren't intertwined." Naruto thought aloud.

"But ours and Kurama's are."

"Well I'm not the one giving birth to our daughter." Naruto pointed out.

"Right, but...You know what? We're getting off track. We gotta save the ship."

"Yeah, we'll gush about our new family later. Or at least I will." Naruto declared.

"Yeah you will." The Blood Clone smirked. "You stay here. I know the plan." He said as he stood up to head back into the bridge.

"Wait, your clothes." Naruto said.

"Oh right." Blood Naruto said. He clapped his hands together and clothed himself in a henge so that he appeared to be wearing Naruto's Star Fleet Uniform.

The Blood Clone stepped back into the bridge and got his game face on. "Lieutenant Uzumaki reporting for duty." Blood Naruto declared.

Picard turned to face Naruto and...Naruto. "I take it the clone was successful."

"I was. My original is gonna hang out in the hallway, out of sight. Just treat me like the original." Blood Naruto said.

"Alright. Stand next to me. I'm trying to negotiate for you to transport yourself to the Romulan ship via a shuttle." Picard informed.

"Very good. Let's do this." Blood Naruto said as he took up his position next to his Captain.

Picard nodded at Worf and he hailed the Romulan Commander a third time.

"It's not wise to keep your-" Volaris stopped himself when he saw the demon himself. "You..." He growled.

"Me..." Blood Naruto replied, he didn't even flinch at the sight of the Romulan's fury. He had faced down scarier man when he was 7 years old. Then again, a raging drunk villager could hardly compare to an alien Captain with a fleet of Plasma Torpedoes at his disposal.

"You are responsible for the countless Romulan lives lost...it will bring me great pleasure to see you get executed."

"I did nothing than wouldn't be expected of any other soldier in the universe. I defended my allies and my loved ones while taking as few lives as possible." Blood Naruto stated.

"That's no excuse!" Volaris shouted. "You are wanted by the Tal'Shiar and the Romulan Star Empire. After we conduct our experiments on you, you will be found guilty and executed before the masses for your crimes."

"You talk about crimes but it was the Tal'Shiar who attacked our vessel first! Did you honestly expect us not to retaliate?!" Picard snapped.

Naruto placed his hand on Picard's shoulder to calm him down. The last thing they needed was for negotiations to break down.

"Well, you have no proof of that now do you?" Volaris smirked smugly. "As the Empire recalls it, our vessel was merely on a science mission where your ship destroyed ours, unprovoked. As I have said, Picard. We do as we will with or without your approval..."

"Enough. You want me to give myself up? I'll do it, but only if you give your word that you will spare the Enterprise and all of the souls aboard the ship."

"You will give yourself up regardless." Volaris said.

 _'Is this your first time negotiating?'_ Naruto thought to himself. "You want me alive, you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble otherwise. Meet me halfway by guaranteeing you will let my friends live and you will find me much more cooperative."

"Very well...your precious ship will not be harmed and neither will your friends."

"And what guarantees will you give me on that? I want to see the Enterprise enter warp speed once I stand aboard your ship. Otherwise I will just take over your ship like I did a year ago." Naruto said.

"I will ensure you that we will not harm your ship or your friends but nothing more. Now quit wasting time or we will be taking you by force."

"Not so fast." Picard said. "We regret to inform you that our transporters are malfunctioning. We will have to have Naruto transfer himself to you via a shuttle ship."

"Is that a fact...are you sure you didn't just take them offline?" Volaris asked.

"It is a new ship. We're still working around the new equipment that was installed. I'm sure even you can attest to that." Picard countered.

"Indeed...very well. Send your shuttle."

"Alright. It will take us fifteen minutes to prep the shuttle and another five for the shuttle reach your ship's docking bay." Picard informed.

"If I have to wait a second longer I will open fire with all of my fleet's cannons." Volaris warned. "And if our sensors detect any other lifeforms aboard this shuttle besides the demon's, we will destroy it and the Enterprise that very moment."

"This is probably a bad time to mention that I don't know how to fly a shuttle ship." Naruto whispered into Picard's ear.

"I'll have Ensign Sol give you a brief lesson." Picard whispered back.

"I can assure you that Naruto will be alone." Picard assured.

"For your sake, you'd better. Twenty minutes. Our computers will be counting." Volaris said before killing the transmission once and for all.

Picard sighed in relief. Things were going well, but now came the hard part. "Riker, is the shuttle ready?"

"Yes, sir. Ready and waiting." Riker said.

"Very good. Naruto, how long will it take you place your seal inside the shuttle discreetly?" Picard asked.

"Less than fifteen minutes, but only because I don't want to give those Romulan bastards a seal to study once I vanish." Blood Naruto said. "And if I know myself like I think I do, my original will already be working on the seal."

"That's all well and good, but what if this all backfires?" Ro spoke up. "

"If it goes tits up...Open fire." Blood Naruto said.

"Against 10 Romulan battleships? Our shields are good, but not that good." Ro pointed out.

"If the plan fails, we won't have a choice." Picard pointed out.

Blood Naruto paused to consider this. "If it came down to a slugfest, how many battleships could we stand up to?"

"Not many. Our weapons are more superior to Enterprise D, but without additional ships, we may not make it out alive." Data informed.

"And I assume we can't call for back up because they are jamming our signal?" Naruto asked.

"Correct." Worf said sourly. "And I would not believe what that Romulan says. They are deceitful and without honor."

"I figured that much. But their jamming technology. Is it just one ship that is keeping us from contacting Starfleet or do they have multiple ships with the technology? Do they need only one of their jammers to keep us cut off or could our signal overpower theirs if I took one out?" Blood Naruto asked as he tapped his foot.

"Uncertain. They seem to be jamming our sensors as well." Data said.

"He's not being honest with us." Troi spoke up.

"Picard, can we walk and talk?" Blood Naruto asked, not wanting to push their luck with the time limit.

"Yes of course. Riker you have the bridge." Picard ordered before he and Naruto walked off the bridge.

"Data! Run an analysis on the Romulan Jammers! Then run a simulation of the maximum number of Romulan Jammers our computer could overwhelm to get a signal out. Then run another simulation on how long the Enterprise could stand up to 10 Romulan battleships and tell my original." Blood Naruto yelled back before the sliding doors closed behind him.

Data turned around and looked at Riker who just nodded for him to proceed.

"Aye sir." Data said as he got to work.

Blood Naruto and Picard stood side by side in the turbolift as it shot down the shoot to the docking bay.

"Something on your mind?" Picard asked.

"Yes, and I only hope that my original self will agree once you tell him. I believe it is time." Blood Naruto stated.

"Time? For what?" Picard asked.

Blood Naruto turned to face Picard. "Time to call upon my ANBU."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"No. If I had my way, I would have them training for a few months longer. I never knew how much there was to teach a ninja before I took on this assignment." Naruto admitted humbly. "But Pervy Sage always said to me that you can never know you were ready for a mission until after you completed that mission."

Picard sighed heavily but nodded. "Very well...Do what you must."

"I will, but I need you to promise me something as well." Blood Naruto said.

"Anything."

"My original self will never say it. He would tell you that if the mission goes south, save his ANBU trainees and leave him behind. But deep down, he would have you flee the second the Enterprise can warp away. Leaving him and his ANBU behind." Blood Naruto said deathly serious.

"Is that what you would have me do? Because your wife would have my ass."

"My wife and my child are all I care about above all. Back when we finally broke free of the time warp thing we were trapped in for a month. In the back of my mind, or my original's mind, I can remember the Enterprise crashing with the Atlantis, and I remember making no effort to save any of the other crewmen. Only Sakura-chan." Blood Naruto said grimly.

Picard's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, exactly?"

"If it comes down to the Enterprise escaping and me or my team being saved, I want you to choose the Enterprise. Promise me." Blood Naruto insisted.

"Naruto, you can't expect me to-"

"Please..." Blood Naruto begged.

Picard shut his eyes. It shouldn't be a difficult decision. It was 14 men (including Kurama) against the thousands aboard the Enterprise. Not just men but women and children. Of course he would choose to save the Enterprise. But Naruto...he could just about see Naruto as a father would a son. It was just like Jack Crusher all over again. He remembered when he had to break the news to Beverly and Wesley that Jack had died in the line of duty and he remembered how devastated they both were. He couldn't bear to go through it again. Yet, the young man was destined for great things. Were the rolls reversed, Picard could see himself sacrificing the entire Enterprise to save Naruto. The doors to the turbolift opened to the docking bay.

"I promise." Picard said.

"Thank you." Blood Naruto said as the two of them stepped into the docking bay where the original Naruto and a team of engineers were stripping the shuttle of everything it didn't need to transport Naruto safely to the Romulan ship.

"Keep the floor panels." The real Naruto ordered. "No need for warp drive or weapons, but keep the panels."

"Naruto." Picard greeted.

"Oh hey. Almost done here" Naruto reported.

"Your clone has a backup plan. Involving your ANBU and the Romulan Jammers I would imagine. Data is also tasked with running some simulations that he will fill you in later." Picard informed.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Well if he thought it up than I must think it's a good plan."

"I uh...also told him to leave you and the ANBU behind should shit hit the fan." Blood Naruto said.

"Well duh. It's the many verses the few." Naruto said.

"Right I know..." Blood Naruto said.

"But...Captain, there is something else I would like you to do for me." Naruto spoke seriously.

"Yes?" Picard asked.

"If I don't make it back...And me and Sakura-chan have talked about this...Can you help take care of my daughter? Please? We want you to be the godfather..."

Picard's eyes went wide. "I would be honored."

"Thank you..." Naruto nodded just as the crew working on the shuttle finished up.

"Then I had better get a move on." Blood Naruto said. "Here's hoping we've done all this extra planning for nothing."

"Data to Picard." They heard over the coms.

"Go ahead." Picard said.

"I was able to use an inverse tachyon pulse to temporarily disrupt their jamming signature. We were able to send out a brief distress call to any ship in the sector via narrow band. The Romulans should not have detected it." Data reported.

"Riker, did you approve of this?" Picard asked.

"No sir. I did not. I wasn't even aware." Riker said.

"I acted on my own, Captain. I accept full responsibility." Data stated.

"Next time, clear it with me before you put the entire crew at risk like that." Picard cursed. He could have thrown his combadge. This was not the time for any of his crew to be acting on a whim. They could yet fly off with only losing a shuttle. Now they could be exposing some nearby courageous ship and her crew to a fleet of Romulans right after the Enterprise fled.

"Well what are you waiting for? Get on the shuttle." Picard ordered.

"Alright, geez!" Blood Naruto cried as he jumped into the back entrance of the tiny spacecraft. It was the same kind of shuttle ship that had transported Naruto and the rest of the men who would later become his Trainees to that Klingon base. Even if he was only a clone, Blood Naruto could not help but gulp in fear. He was being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. To willing walking into the hands of the enemy. We're he the original Naruto, he might be praised for his bravery. Ninjas from olden times had songs written about them for sacrifices like this. But this clone? He would forever be a distant memory of his originals. With that in mind, the clone walked across the loose metal grid floor panel to the cockpit. He took one of the two seats behind the touchscreen controls for the ship and opened up a channel to Ensign Sol so that he could explain how to fly this damn thing.

Naruto and Picard stood nearby as the shuttle soon hovered over the ground and flew out towards the vacuum of space. Six minutes remained before the time limit was reached.

* * *

"You're doing very well, Sakura. You can start pushing soon." Crusher advised. So far, this has been nothing but a routine delivery.

"Easy for you to say...this kids stubborn like her father..." Sakura gasped.

"Oh believe me, I know. Wesley was the same way." Crusher smiled.

"Personally, I think this has to do with inheriting her mother's big head. All Harunos have big heads according to my aunts." Hajime said as he observed the baby just beginning to crown.

"Lovely...would like to have known that sooner..." Sakura groaned.

"Don't worry, the drugs should kick in soon and this will no worse than a bad bowl movement." Hajime said. "That rearranges bones." He whispered.

"I have...ugh...delivered dozens of babies...I know what it is..."

"Exactly. This is actually my seventh baby that I've ever delivered and this has to be the smoothest delivery yet." Hajime praised.

"If you say so..." Sakura scoffed. It didn't feel easy to her.

"Just focus on your breathing and what you are going to do once she comes out. You and Naruto will be a family together." Crusher said.

Sakura took a deep breath and let her mind wander towards Naruto wrapping his strong arms around her. His ear to ear smile directed down at the perfect little bundle in Sakura's arm. They were seated together on the couch, sharing a blanket over their laps while Kurama sat on the floor and warmed their feet with his belly. He turned his head toward then and pressed his nose to the baby's, earning a giggle from Sakura and her daughter. It was perfect.

"Right...oh man, Lady Tsunade is gonna flip when she sees her..." Sakura gasped happily.

"I'm going to flip." April Uzumaki Haruno said from Sakura left side. She had taken over hand holding duty after her cousin went to deal with whatever it was the Enterprise needed saving from now. "I want to meet my niece already."

Sakura smiled. "You will...soon enoooaaaaAAAAAHAHAAA!" Sakura screamed when she was hit with the strongest contraction yet.

April's face contorted in pain as Sakura clamped down on her hand with so much force she thought she wasn't gonna have a hand anymore. "Aaaahhh...goddammit..." April hissed.

"Okay cuz, that was good, that was very good." Hajime praised.

"Yes it was, I can see the head." Crusher said.

Sakura felt like laughing out loud at how much (yet how little) progress she had made when her husband's voice came out of the coms. "Lieutenant Uzumaki to Ensign April Haruno."

"Go ahead, cousin." April grunted in pain.

"I need you down here in the holodeck on the double. Bring all your ninja gear."

"I...kinda can't. I'm helping Sakura and Dr. Crusher at the moment."

"That's an order, trainee. Coming from Captain Picard himself." Naruto said.

"GAAAAAAAAAHH!" Sakura screamed again.

"Is Sakura-chan doing alright?" Naruto asked, breaking out of his ANBU commander persona.

"Yes she is. The head is almost completely out now." Crusher responded, making Naruto pause when he heard that.

"That's good right? I mean it happened so fast." Naruto asked.

"She...really wants out sweetie..." Sakura gasped.

"Sakura-chan...I'm sorry, I wish I could be there. With any luck I will be there in a few minutes." Naruto swore.

"It's okay...you'll see her later I'm sure..."

"Well, her hair is pink if you wanna know." Hajime said happily.

"Awesome..." Naruto said as he held his tears back. He needed to steel himself. "I still need you down here, April. In case things don't work out. I need you for your first ANBU mission."

"Fine...actually wait! I can just leave a Shadow Clone here!" April said.

"Make sure you give it plenty of Chakra." Naruto advised.

"Right, right." April said before crossing her fingers. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" She cried as a perfect replica poofed into existence. It wasn't as durable as a Blood Clone. God knows it couldn't take a direct hit from anything sharper than a butter knife, but it might just be able to stand up to Sakura's monster like grip if she was careful. "Okay, Sakura, I'm just going to comfort you by placing my hand atop yours. Just grip the sheet if you feel a contraction." Clone April said while real April kissed Hajime on the cheek and dashed out the door to her room.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the Type 9 Shuttle, Blood Clone Naruto had finally reached the Romulan docking bay as requested, with a full 30 seconds to spare.

"Just ease back on the slider bar on the far left and the computer should handle the rest of the landing." Sol said over the coms.

"Thanks, Sol." Blood Naruto said, trying to keep up the ruse in case the Romulans intercepted their coms. "It has been an honor serving with you. Take care of the Enterprise and the rest of your fellow ANBU."

"Will do...it's been an honor learning from you. Sol out."

Blood Naruto grimaced. _'Moment of truth.'_

He entered the docking bay and saw that it was of similar design to the Enterprise's. A big open area with crates stacked with fuel and other logistics. Romulan ships of all shapes and sizes were also parked in their stations, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. The bay was also filled to the brim with Romulan soldiers training their plasma rifles on the ship as it landed in the center of the docking bay. Naruto saw so many guns he wondered if he could have actually fought his way out if he were the original. Probably not. Not without at least one grunt getting a lucky shot in. He might as well try to stay dry in the rain.

As soon as the shuttle landed, all of the soldiers surrounded his ship like a swarm of angry honey bees to a bear.

The clone sighed and deactivated the ship's engine. He remotely opened the rear shuttle door and made a big show of keeping his hands up as he walked the narrow lane out of the ship and into the hands of the enemy.

"Lieutenant Naruto I presume..." A familiar voice said as he was placed in cuffs. Naruto didn't even see the alien who had put him in cuffs, the crowd was too thick with Romulan guards to point out anyone specific. Instead he focused on the man addressing him, the commander Volaris.

"In the flesh." The Blood Clone replied.

"Not for very long, I'm afraid." Volaris sneered. "Once we have extracted your DNA, you will be executed."

"You sure you want to do that? You could learn a lot more if you just interrogated me. Maybe convince me that you're in your right to take me hostage and learn my powers. Heck, at the very least I bet the Federation would pay a hefty sum to get me back in one piece." Naruto suggested casually.

"Well, part of the plan is to interrogate you for any Federation secrets you may have...but our ultimate goal is to extract your DNA and add it to our own so we may have your powers as well."

"Of course. Far be it from me to stop someone trying to learn something new. I just want to make sure you are upholding your end of the bargain." Naruto said while raising up what fraction of the original's chakra he had. Which was still enough to kick up a gale storm and send even the most experienced Romulan soldiers stepping backwards. "Now take me to the bridge. I want to see the Enterprise warp away to safety. Otherwise you will learn just how little these cuffs are restricting me." The Blood Clone growled, the fraction of Kurama's chakra mixed in turning his pupils into slits. Volaris seemed almost amused.

"You want to see the Enterprise fleeing? Fine, just one formality before we step aboard the bridge." Volaris said before nodding to one of the men standing behind Naruto. The clone managed to turn around and block the first knife aimed for his back, he even dodged the second aimed by another guard, but the third managed to find its mark right underneath his ribcage. The Blood Clone gasped before his body exploded with smoke.

 _'Damn it all.'_ The Blood Clone thought before he realized that he still existed. The smoke cleared and revealed him to be wearing the sweaty workout clothes that his original had been wearing when he made him.

The crowd of men just stared at the Blood Clone, not sure of what to make of his clothes vanishing. Naruto just darted his eyes back and forth before decided to fill them in.

"Okay, so you caught me right before I was to start my shift. I didn't have time to change." Blood Naruto said like he had been caught in the middle of a practical joke.

"My apologies." Volaris said as he slipped the knife out of the clone's backside. "I had to make sure that you weren't one of your duplicates. I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah..." Naruto hissed as the open wound leaked out fresh blood. By some amount of miracle and dumb luck, the commander had missed his liver. Only now the Blood Clone was bleeding out. His hour of life had easily been cut in half. Maybe even quartered if they expected him to suffer before treating him.

"Take this to the lab." Volaris ordered one of the guards, handing him the knife.

"Yes, sir." The guard said before carefully running off towards the labs.

"Someone else send a medic up to the bridge. I imagine our guest won't want to miss seeing his ship and crew abandon him forever." Volaris said.

"Yes Commander." A female guard said before heading to the medical wing.

"Come, Lieutenant. It is a long walk and I doubt you'll keep your strength for long." Volaris snickered as he turned his back to head towards the bridge while Naruto was shoved in the back by two of the guards with their rifles. Naruto stumbled but kept his pace. He pressed his shackled hands against his wound, trying to buy himself as much time as possible. Unfortunately, the crowd of bloodthirsty guards took full advantage of his undefended left side and jabbed the butt of their rifles into his ribs and love handles. They laughed as Naruto stumbled more. He felt like puking, but wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

Even if he was just a clone, he would die just as the real Naruto would. With his pride.

It was a long walk to the bridge of the Romulan ship. Step after agonizing step, he finally walked onto the bridge of the ship which seemed underwhelming compared to the Enterprise.

"There is your ship as promised." Volaris said.

Blood Naruto looked upon the main screen, starting to feel a little whoozy. He didn't have that much blood to begin with and that medic was sure taking his sweet time. All he could do was look up to see the Enterprise-E being released from the Romulan tractor beams, as promised. Slowly, the ship began to turn around to head back into Starfleet patrolled space.

 _'Thank God, the plan is working. No one else will have to die today.'_ The clone thought.

"Sub Commander, signal to the other ships. Tell them to fire on my command." Volaris sneered.

"What?!" Blood Naruto roared, he lunged at Volaris, but was pushed back by two Romulan guards.

"Did you honestly think that I would let a prize such as the Federations Flagship slip through my fingers?"

"We had a deal!" Blood Naruto growled.

"Oh please...spare me the heroism...like I would ever strike a bargain with a criminal." He smirked. "Let it be known to the Federation...if you oppose us, you will lose your ship, and your life."

"You promised me their safety you shit..." Naruto growled.

"And they broke that deal when they sent out a distress call." Volaris scoffed, making Naruto go wide eyed. "What? Did you think we wouldn't detect a Tachyon burst from that ship? We also picked up the narrow band transmission as well. We almost missed it. We also detected your transporters deliberately being taken offline to buy more time. We're not stupid, you know."

"Let the Enterprise go or I will split this ship in two! Killing myself and your entire crew with me!" Blood Naruto threatened, his eyes red with the remnants of Kurama's chakra. "This is your last warning!"

"You're in no condition to fight. In case you haven't figured it out yet, my knife is coated with a deadly neurotoxin. You have about a minute left before your dead." Volaris sneered.

"The fleet has responded and are awaiting your order, Commander." The Sub Commander reported.

"Fire." Volaris ordered.

"NOOOOOO!" Naruto screamed as he charged at the Romulan commander. Two guards tried to tackle the ninja and two guards were knocked aside by the runaway train that was Naruto. He had only moments to live and his thoughts were only of the crew and of Sakura and their unborn baby. The shinobi shoved Volaris to the ground and fell upon him with the fury of a demon. He would rip out the alien's fucking throat with his teeth if that's all he could do. His shackled hands were already squeezing Volaris's throat like a tube of meat. Just a little force and his neck would snap. The Romulans would cower before the death of their commander and flee. He would save everyone. That's what he thought as a handheld disruptor ripped through his chest cavity. Like a puppet with his strings cut, Naruto felt all his strength leave him. He looked down at the enraged eyes of Volaris. The Romulan was still alive. He was so close.

 _'Sakura-chan...I'm sorry...'_ Naruto thought before fading into unconsciousness. His brief window of existence was over. No one would even remember him. Only his original.

* * *

Inside the one of the Enterprise holodecks, the real Naruto sat up from his tree stump and blinked. His blood clone's memories all came flooding through his mind before settling in the back of his subconscious.

"Damn it." Naruto said aloud just before the entire forest shook when the Enterprise took a direct him from a plasma torpedo.

"What's going on?" Sol cried, not certain if this was just a part of the holodeck simulation or not. He had never been to the Leaf village. He didn't know if earthquakes were common there or not.

Naruto looked up at him and the eleven other ANBU cadets that he had been training for nearly 8 months. "What's happening is you all are graduating from training today." Naruto said calmly.

* * *

Back on the bridge, it was all hands on deck.

"Raise the shields! Maximum power!" Picard ordered as he tried to hold on to his chair as the Enterprise took another direct hit.

"Shields are offline!" Worf exclaimed.

"Get them back online at any cost! We need to withstand their barrage for as long as possible!" Picard ordered. "Data! Use our torpedoes and phasers to intercept as many incoming plasma torpedoes as possible! Give our shields a chance to recharge."

"Aye, Captain." Data said.

"Helmsman! Do we still have engine controls?" Picard barked.

"For the moment we do, but I don't know for how much longer!"

"Fly us around the planet Onyix! As close as you can without being caught in its atmosphere!" Picard ordered.

"Sir, it's a gas giant. Its gravitational force will drag the Enterprise down." Ro pointed out, feeling like it was a crazy plan.

"That's an order, Ensign!" Picard barked.

Ro gulped, but obeyed. "Aye, aye, sir." Her fingers danced across the touch screen as she forced the engines to accelerate as fast as possible. The Enterprise lurched forward, taking fire all the way. Data managed to knock out half of the projectiles the Romulans were throwing at them, but that meant that the hull itself was taking all the rest of the hits. The crew could feel the ship's rattling in their teeth. Picard held his chair tightly as he prayed that they would live to see the dark side of Onyix.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the sickbay, Sakura's cries were interrupted by another explosion hitting the side of the ship. The lights flickered and loose medical tools fell to the floor as the Enterprise saucer took a direct hit.

"Bitch! Son of a bitch!" A nurse cried as he held himself in place underneath the doorframe.

"Calm down!" Crusher shouted as she inspected Sakura's progress amidst all this chaos. She could see a large forehead peeking out. Crusher wanted to curse herself. The birthing process was far too gone now to attempt a C-section. They would have to finish with the natural birth.

"Sakura, come on, really big push right now!" Crusher ordered just as the ship rocked again.

"SAGE OF SIX PAAAAAATHS!" Sakura screamed as she gave her biggest push yet. The floor seemed to crack as Sakura forced out another inch of her baby's head, right up to the eyebrows.

"That's great, Sakura! That's so great!" Crusher praised while Hajime attended to one of the other doctors who had cut his hand after falling over with one of the explosions.

"Sweet Sage...what is going on out there? Where is Naruto?" Sakura gasped, never before had she felt so tired. Tsunade's Ass Kicking Training couldn't even compare.

"He is out putting a stop to all this no doubt." Hajime said as the lights flickered again. "Don't think about that. Focus on pushing your girl out. The sooner you do that, the sooner we can get you to both to safety."

"Don't think that way. We can't rush this. Besides, this is the safest part of the ship." Crusher consoled.

"JUST GET HER OUT OF ME!" Sakura ordered as the room shook again and something crashed down the hallway.

"Alright, now PUUUUUUSSSSHHH!" Crusher shouted. Sakura gripped her sheets and pushed with all her might while April's clone ran a wet cloth across Sakura's forehead.

 _'Naruto...for the love of God...where are you?'_ Sakura thought.

* * *

Back on the holodeck, the simulation of the Leaf village had flickered. All the trainees were growing nervous. Shouldn't they be doing something? They all collectively thought. But their leader had insisted that they all meet in this holographic replica of his home town.

Even given their circumstances, April couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful the planet really was. Trees as far as the eye could see, and they had been sent to the top of a mountain where down below the trainees could see a thriving city only a few miles in diameter, but packed filled with colored buildings and a kind of mystic charm about it.

Realizing that he had little time to spare, Naruto walked over to an ancient knotted old tree, distinguishable from all the other trees in the forest by bark groves that miraculously twisted into a replication of the Leaf village symbol that Naruto had shown them. The trainees couldn't actually believe that this was natural and in many ways it wasn't. Naruto knew the truth behind this tree and its importance.

The ANBU Captain turned towards his students, his face never before looking so serious.

"Ladies and gentlemen..." Naruto began. "Your training ends today." All the trainees became excited. Even amidst the bombardment this was incredible news.

"There is a long tradition of speeches and anecdotes I am supposed to give to all those who join the ranks of the Leaf ANBU." He continued. "But we obviously don't have the time. Sufficient to say this first mission will serve as a better initiation than anything tradition could possible come up with..." A few guys chuckled.

"You've all been trained to the best of my abilities, yet your own guts is why you all stand here today. Remember that and remember to trust in your teammates in the battles to come." Naruto paused as the room shook from another direct hit.

"When you walk out of this holodeck you will no longer be trainees, grunts, Genin, or security officers of Starfleet. You will be ANBU. Ninjas and Kunoichi alike. You will be Shinobi: the heart and the blade!" April, Sol, and all the others felt themselves swelling with pride.

"And when you return. When the enemies have been defeated and the Enterprise has been saved. You will be honored with decorating your porcelain masks." Naruto said as he held up a blank white mask with two eye holes drilled into it. The ANBU all oohed and awed at the simple mask before Naruto threw it at April, who caught it. Followed by Sol and all the others. April turned her mask over and saw inside the mask, the arrow symbol for Starfleet was carved into the mask already. Traditionally that symbol would be the Leaf symbol, showing that an ANBU's home village was never far from their minds.

"Collin! Blake! Rio! Sam!" Naruto barked. "You four are Team Collin. Therefore, Collin is team leader. Likewise for Team Iceman, which also includes Xio, Manni, and Ellie." Naruto listed off, that only left... "Sol! April! Dan! Kitty! You four are Team Sol. Any objections? Save them, we have a mission." Naruto said as he had the holodeck create a mini replica of the 10 Romulan Warbirds and the Enterprise floating opposite the enemy fleet.

"As you are aware, we are currently under attack by the Romulan fleet. We are deep into neutral space beyond the patrols of any other Federation fleet. Data managed to send a quick distress signal out, but we have no way to know if the message got received or if it was by a friendly. Even if it did, we can't expect the cavalry to come save us any time soon. For the time being, we are on our own and outnumbered." Naruto said before the holographic Romulan ships began emitting a visible pulse aimed at the Enterprise model.

"These ships are emitting jamming frequencies that make it impossible for us to send out a real cry for help. I've been told by Data that even if an entire fleet did get the message, they would have a lightyear of grid space to search. That may take a lot of time, so our mission is to buy more of." Naruto said as two shuttle ships flew out of the Enterprise and curved their way right underneath two of the Romulan ships.

"We are going to sneak aboard three of the Romulan ships, sow as much chaos as possible, and destroy their sensor relays. Data has also determined that we only need to destroy three of the Romulan's sensor relays. With three down, our more advanced relays will be able to overwhelm the enemy signal and let our reinforcements know where to find us." Naruto said just as the ship took another hit and all the holograms flickered.

"Once the alpha priority has been achieved, each team will secure an escape pod and flee the Warbird they currently occupy." Naruto said. "I'm told that the sensor relays are located in the computer room. And once the computer room is destroyed, the ship loses its ability to regulate the black holes they use for fuel, and will therefore destroy itself inside of a few minutes. So hightail it out of there as fast as you can."

The ANBU officers all nodded.

"The key here is to fight like ninjas. Striking fast and hard and then vanishing into the shadows. Don't stay in one place for too long. Keep moving, keep them disoriented."

Iceman raised his hand and Naruto signaled for him to talk.

"That's all well and good sir, but how do we plan on getting inside the battleships while they are in red alert?"

"I will explain that on the shuttle ride there. Be prepared to put your spacesuits on over your ninja gear though." Naruto explained. "Team C, your target will be this ship right here." Naruto pointed to the ship second to the farthest one away from the Enterprise. "Data has analyzed that this one has the most modern sensor equipment and will take the most pressure off our own sensor relay. Get it done. " Naruto then pointed to the largest battleship in the small fleet. "Team Ice, you will be joining me in taking on this big bastard. It has the most firepower, so if there is any ship we should turn it's guns on the enemy, it's that one." Naruto said, only leaving Team Sol, who were confused for they didn't see any shuttle for them to take. How we're they supposed to help?

"Team Sol. You guys have the most important target and the only one with a tertiary objective." Naruto said as he had the main battleship his Blood Clone had been sent to. "Before destroying the ship's sensor relay, if you can kill or capture the commander in charge of all of this, you could bring us a complete victory."

Sol and April turned very excited. This was the chance they had been waiting for.

"I will be teleporting you all in via my Thunder God technique. After that, you are on your own to find a way back. "Everyone clear on their general assignments?" Naruto asked, but of course no one questioned their orders. "Then let's move out."

* * *

As the 13 ninja plus one sealed away Tailed Beast ran out of the holodeck and toward the docking bay, the source of all their grief, Volaris was smirking as he observed the Enterprise being hammered by his fleet. Plasma torpedoes lit up the armor of the Enterprise like an Earthling's Christmas tree. It was remarkable, even without their shields the Federation vessel meant for diplomacy could take a surprising amount of punishment.

 _'No matter.'_ Volaris thought to himself as he massaged his neck from that cursed demon's trick. He would have his ships disable the Enterprise of all engines and weapons. Then they would rip open the hulls of the main saucer layer by layer like an onion until what remained of their commanding officers would beg Volaris to beam Naruto aboard his ship.

He was disappointed though. He had hoped that the demon known as Naruto would come himself and then beam himself back to the Enterprise using his powers. Thus allowing the Romulans access to achieve their true objective. Which their intelligence had said would be a more valuable asset to the Romulan cause than Naruto would ever be. Again, no matter. One way or another, this day would belong to the Romulans.

"Sir!" An officer reported. "Multiple intruders detected in the docking bay. They just sort of... appeared out of nowhere."

"Where exactly are they coming from?" Volaris demanded to know.

"The Federation shuttle Type 9 ship. Perhaps they hid inside a container meant to conceal their life signs. No wait...the sensors are detecting Theta band energy spikes coming from that ship. The Federation must have a way to beam aboard our ships even with our shields up!"

"No they don't. This is the demon's work." Volaris stated, having studied every rumor and scrap of data that could be obtained about the one called Naruto Uzumaki. "Surround the shuttle. Kill or capture everyone on board."

"Sir." The officer snapped.

The order quickly came down to the ranking officer stationed on the docking bay. "Acknowledged. Surround the Federation shuttle!" The officer barked. His men all obeyed without a word, their guns drawn on the shuttle, focusing on doors and windows.

"Open the door." The lead officer ordered.

The guard nearest to the control panel pressed the button and the hatch flew open. The Romulans all gripped their guns a little tighter when they saw...

"Empty." One guard reported.

"Alright. You and you, get in there and check it out." He said, pointing to two random guards.

The two nodded and marched up the ramp. They tore upon the storage lockers and found nothing. One of them checked the seats to see if they folded up to be storage bins. Nothing. The two finally reached the cockpit and turned to face the corners to find nothing again. The Romulan guards looked at one another. Were there sensors broken? They contemplated this as they casually walked back out the ship just as two grey marbles fell from the ceiling.

The marbles exploded, filling the shuttle interior with an impenetrable cloud of white smoke. The guards shouted, firing their plasma rifles wildly. Bodies were slammed against metal. More plasma fire. And then everything just went quiet.

"What's going on in there?!" The lead officer bellowed.

His response was to have two Earth females dressed in strangely provocative garb thrown out of the smoke face first onto the ramp. The two guards that had been sent in immediately rushed out and jammed their rifles into the backs of their new captives, dating them to move.

"We got them! We got them, sir!" One of the guards shouted.

"Bastards thought they could get the drop on us, but we showed them." The other guard said as the smoke began to dissipate, revealing two corpses lying on the floor with plasma wounds smoking on their chests.

"Good. Take them to the brig." The lead officer ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir." One of the guards said as he took put his cuffs and retrained one of the kunoichi while his partner did the same.

"Come on, get up!" The Romulan shouted at the red headed Kunoichi.

"Get off me!" The red head protested.

"I said get up!" The Romulan shouted as he yanked April up by her collar.

"Get these two out of my sight...and take care of the corpses." The officer ordered before he and the others started to disperse.

"Fuck you all!" The long brown haired kunoichi cried out, trying to thrash about, but finding that the Romulan overpowered her easily.

"I said, move it!" The guard struck Kitty in the back with the butt of his gun.

"Ow! Okay already!" Kitty grumbled.

The four of them piled into the turbolift and only once the doors had been sealed did they feel safe to talk.

"Well that went better than expected." One of the guards spoke.

"Agreed." April said.

"Yea, next time don't hit me so hard." Kitty scolded.

"Sorry." Dan said. "Had to make it look convincing."

"Yea, well it hurt." Kitty pouted as Dan took her cuffs off.

"Keep those on… loosely." Sol said to Kitty.

"Right..." Kitty sighed.

"So what next?" Dan asked.

"We keep up the appearance of transporting prisoners all the way to the ship's sensor relay. Once there we plant the paper bombs and move on to the next target. Anyone questions us, we claim we got lost. Failing that, we go loud. If we get separated. Make your way to a life pod. Clear?" Sol asked, taking a few cues from their master, Naruto.

"Got it." They all responded.

Then a thought occurred to April. "And what if they discover the corpses are covered in henges?"

"Never mention this, but I slapped the paper seals on both their asses. No one is going to be looking there unless they really mean to." Dan admitted.

 **"Smart thinking."** A tiny voice praised before a mini Kurama the side of a grasshopper popped his head out of Sol's front vest pocket.

Team Sol looked down at their living intercept proof radio. Before they had been teleported by Naruto aboard the Romulan vessel, he had given each team leader a shrunken Kurama Shadow Clone packed with enough chakra to make Shadow Clones of its own. Allowing for the three mini clones to transfer memories back and forth between all of its brethren.

"Aww...you look as cute as a button..." Kitty gushed.

"Focus." April scolded.

 **"Exactly. Focus on the mission. Not on how adorable I am."** Mini Kurama stated.

"Right, before the doors open. Kurama, how are the other teams doing?" Sol asked.

 **"Oh them?"** Kurama replied just as Team Collin were finishing placing all of their paper bombs on the side of another Romulan battleship. Their target being the most sophisticated technologically wise, they decided that the appropriate course of action was to go for the direct approach. Which just so happened to involve enough paper bombs to blow the heads off the side of Hokage mountain.

"Fire in the hole!" Collin shouted as he instinctively covered his ears even as his head was contained in his glass visor spacesuit. The paper bombs ignited and the armor of the ship caved in like a banana peel.

Team Collin cheered. They were in.

 **"Team Collin is having a blast."** Mini Kurama said to Team Sol.

"Huh?" Dan asked.

 **"They're blowing a hole in the side of their ship."** Mini Kurama explained dryly.

"Ah right." Dan nodded.

"Did it work? Paper bombs are no photon charges." April asked.

 **"Oh it worked. An entire sector of the Romulan ship lost pressure. The team then bypassed an airlock and now they are marching with impunity through the battleship. They might just take out their sensor relay first."**

"Well let's beat them to it." Kitty declared.

"We will." Sol declared. "Team C is gonna get caught up on a Romulan guard patrol sooner or later while we walk in uncontested."

"Oh yea we will." April smirked as the turbo lift came to a halt.

"Let's make some money then." Dan said as they pushed their "prisoners" forward.

* * *

As Team Sol and Team Collin had successfully entered their battleships, Team Ice had only just slipped past the shields of their battleship. The five of them had slipped into their skintight space suits with the glass visors and we're currently drifting unchallenged around the surface of the Romulan destroyer class Battleship.

"Any idea why they haven't shot us down yet?" Manni asked as he adjusted his kunai leg pouch to fit more comfortably.

"No clue." Ellie said.

"Either dumb luck, or they are expecting us." Naruto said as he double checked his helmet.

"Sensei...if you don't mind me asking, why are you here if your child is about to be born?" Xio asked.

"The same reason you aren't back on the Enterprise comforting your girlfriend while the ship gets bombarded. Because I have an important job to do." Naruto said as he did a visual inspection of everyone else.

"Or are you asking why didn't I just send you 12 in to handle this job yourself while I stayed behind to comfort my wife?"

"I was just curious is all." Xio said.

"A leader leads by example. I wouldn't send any of you off to do a task I wouldn't do myself. Big or small. That includes storming an enemy battleship, leaving your loved ones behind with the very real possibility that they may never see you again. Does that answer your question?" Naruto asked as he felt satisfied that they were ready.

"Yes, sensei." Xio nodded.

"Good. Now stick close to me. I'm going to cut a hole in the side of their ship. Just don't tell my wife what jutsu I'm going to use to do it." Naruto insisted, he was already sweating at the thought of the scolding he would get if he was found out. "In fact, if anyone asks, we used paper bombs."

"Yes sir." They all acknowledged.

"Good. Hold on tight!" Naruto shouted as he deactivated the failsafe measures on the shuttle door. Locks released and the oxygen in the shuttle was immediately sucked out of the tiny opening before the rear door opened entirely. Naruto and the rest of the ninjas felt like they were being yanked by the invisible hand of a giant, but they kept their grips on the shuttle. As soon as the atmosphere had finished venting out the shuttle the artificial gravity was deactivated and the team was left floating in their spots.

"Everyone out! Get on top of the battleship's surface!" Naruto ordered.

Naruto threw himself out of the drifting shuttle and sailed towards the battleship. It was an unnerving feeling, being so helpless. It was only a fifty-foot jump between the type 9 and the Romulan battleship, but a lot could happen in the middle of a space battle. For 5 agonizing seconds Naruto was at the whims of physics.

He landed feet first onto the metal surface of the ship, he quickly channeled character through the soles of his boots and stuck to the surface. Four more pairs of boots landed next to him.

 _'Perfect, everyone made it.'_ Naruto thought.

Iceman pulled out his tricord and started scanning the area for the best entry point.

"Sir, we have a maintenance shaft right below us with 2 feet of armor plating and pipe in between." Iceman reported.

"Perfect, everyone stand back." Naruto ordered. The ANBU all too two big steps backwards as Naruto created a single Shadow Clone. The team watched in awe as Naruto held out his hand and began to swirl chakra around his palm while the clone held out both his hands and injected wind chakra into the fledgling ninjutsu. Naruto's gloved palm exploded with light as it took the form of a Rasengan with four spinning blades of chakra ringing around it. The Rasenshuriken.

Naruto's four students all looked on in awe. They had only seen their master perform this jutsu once back on Earth. He would never dare risk demonstrating it while they were trapped in an over glorified tin can rocketing through space. Even while away from the Enterprise this jutsu was extremely dangerous for its user. The Enterprise break room could still hear gossip about how Naruto had nearly killed himself by using his most powerful jutsu while in a spacesuit. His jutsu had ripped his right glove to shreds by the time he finally remembered he had left one of his Thunder God seals back in the engine room of the old Enterprise.

Naruto of course knew all this and reassured himself that it was only a risk it he used the ninjutsu for an extended period of time. With that in mind he forced more chakra into the spinning blade until it was as tall as he was and spinning so fast it looked like a shield.

"Here goes." Naruto said over the coms as he plunged his Rasenshuriken sideways into the armor plating. The microscopic wind blades sliced through the Romulan armor like they were made of construction paper. Slowly, Naruto began to turn around while staying in the exact same place, using the Rasenshuriken as a buzz saw he cut an opening into the side of the ship.

"Awesome..." Ellie said in awe.

"Seriously. When will we learn that?" Manni asked.

"As soon as you all master the Rasengan, the Shadow Clone jutsu, and your elemental nature." Naruto said.

"Our...What now?" Xio asked in confusion.

"I'll tell you after we complete our mission. But not before I see my daughter for the first time." Naruto said as the battleship began to vent pressure through the cut Naruto was making.

After a moment, Naruto finished making his cut and the plate that he cut blew out of the hole. However, Xio was too close to the plate when it blew out and it knocked him away from the ship.

"Xio!" Manni shouted as Naruto cocked his hands back like he meant to draw a gun, instead he thrust his arms at Xio and crossed his fingers. A chain of Shadow Clones shot out of his arms and grabbed Xio by the leg.

"Xio, you okay!?" Naruto asked.

"Yea...just dizzy is all..." Xio grunted.

"Good. The rest of you, get in the hole while I finish rescuing Xio." Naruto ordered.

"You got it, boss." Manni said as he and his two teammates leapt into the ship's hole.

"No need. I can make it back." Xio said as he pressed a button on his arm which activated jet thrusters on his feet and shoulders. He flew through space and landed right next to where Naruto was standing.

"Care to join them, Xio?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, sensei." Xio said as he flew over to the hole and through it.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the main Romulan ship, Volaris was fuming. So far everything had gone wrong on this mission. They had failed to capture the demon or a sample of his DNA. It had been another one of the demon's tricks and to top it off the head science officer had reported to Volaris that the blood sample they had taken had vanished with a poof of smoke around the same time the clone had. They had tried to exact revenge by blasting the Enterprise to oblivion but the newly christened Federation ship could evidently take a pounding. Not only that, but the ship had somehow managed to keep flying even under the fleet's constant barrage. They then flew behind the nearby planet of all things, forcing Volaris's fleet to give chase. They had already lost the IRW Ultak after its captain had foolishly tried to fly through the gas giant's clouds to cut off the Enterprise and got caught in the planet's gravity. If they didn't keep up the pressure the Enterprise would warp away or more likely a Federation fleet would come to their rescue.

 _'How could this get any worse?'_ Volaris wondered to himself.

"Commander. We've detected another Federation ship just outside of this sector." The ops officer reported.

"Are they intercepting us?" Volaris asked.

"Negative, sir. They haven't detected us yet."

"Son of a bitch. Keep monitoring them. Don't let them detect us no matter what." Volaris ordered.

"Yes sir. Deploying sensor counter measures."

"Commander. Reports coming in from the Amtre and Odepus. Holes have been blown in the sides of them." Another ops officer stated.

"How?" Volaris demanded.

"We don't know. However we are getting reports of enemy combatants moving through the ships at an astonishing pace."

"Damn it!" Volaris snapped as he slammed his hand on his armrest.

"What about the intruders we captured? Are they in the brig yet?"

"Unknown sir. I haven't heard anything from our team."

"Send a security team to find them and then kill them." Volaris ordered.

"Yes, commander." The ops officer said before trying to raise the coms to security, only to find that the request on his panel wasn't working. "Sir, internal coms are offline."

"Sabotage." Volaris cursed. "Send a runner then."

"Yes sir." He didn't have the chance though as the door to the bridge opened and in stepped the head scientist aboard Volaris's ship.

"Datha, what are you doing here?" Volaris spat, wanting nothing to do with her condescending tone.

"Providing you good news, brother. I can tell by our communications being sabotaged that the battle is not going as simply as you expected." Dartha said as she walked up to her brother with her hands held behind her back a and a smug, satisfied look at her arrogant brother's failures.

"Spit it out, I have no time for your games."

"My assistants and I have finished analyzing the wavelengths of the demon's teleportation powers." Datha said, earning her brother's full and undivided attention.

"They leave behind a distinctive theta band signature whenever he makes the jump from one location to another. Which our transporters can trace back all the way to the interior of the Enterprise." Datha stated, earning a rare grin from her dear brother.

This was incredible. This could salvage the entire operation without even needing to capture the demon for experimentation. He was just the beta priority anyway. But with the demon off the Enterprise, no doubt assaulting the other battleships, they had a golden opportunity to capture their mission's alpha priority.

"Contact the elite strike team. Tell them to initiate phase two. Bring me the spawn of the demon."

Looking back on what we wrote in the first draft, do we want to say that this was all preplanned by the Romulans or do we want them to just teleport in to sew chaos on the Enterprise and then just so happen to run into Sakura and her baby and then see those whisker marks?

"Yes Commander." One of the bridge officers said.

"Once you have the child, bring it directly to me and do not harm it. I want it alive and well." Datha ordered.

"Any particular reason why?" Volaris asked.

"Simple...the more it grows, the more we can supply our troops with the demons DNA. Plus...we can raise it as a weapon against the Federation and the demon himself." Datha smirked evilly.

"Hmm...an interesting point you make..." Volaris mused.

* * *

Back on the Enterprise bridge, Picard was starting to breathe a little easier. By the grace of almighty God, the Enterprise was holding together. His split second tactic to fly around the planet Onyix had paid off. It had given them time, time for Naruto and his ninjas to invade the enemy vessels. If they could just hold out for half an hour longer then Picard was confident they would all make it out of this alive.

That is...until the security alarms went off.

"Intruder alert on deck 9." Worf alerted.

"Have all security teams converge on deck 9." Picard ordered. He wasn't taking any chances, not when sick bay was on that deck.

"Security teams already on their way. Officers reporting sabotaged surveillance equipment in the wake of the boarding party." Data stated.

"How many invaders are there? How did they get in?" Picard inquired.

* * *

Down in the Sickbay, the ship had stopped shaking, but things were no less hectic in Sakura's delivery room. Crusher, Hajime, April's Shadow Clone, and a handful of nurses were all that was left to care for Sakura in the last stages of the birthing process. All while standing in what could most kindly be described as an earthquake disaster zone. Medical tools and supplies thrown everywhere, and the floor drenched in vaginal fluid and dust.

"Jesus! You need me to grab you some heavy-duty clamps or something?" April's clone cried impatiently.

"April, be quiet!" Hajime snapped as he worked on easing the stubborn baby out of Sakura already.

"Okay Sakura. Just one last good push! She's almost out!" Crusher ordered.

"Huff, huff, huff..." Sakura panted as she grabbed the side of her bed, her face caked in sweat from the constant pushing. She couldn't even remember the last time she wasn't exhausted. But she had to press on. She had come too far not to see her daughter now. Just one more push. She just needed to give one more push...

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura cried out like a prayer to the gods above. Let her see her baby. Let her be a mother. To be a family with Naruto.

Sakura pushed out and felt an immense relief wash over her. It was almost orgasmic how quickly the pressure left her lower half.

"Water!" Crusher shouted as soon as she grabbed a little bundle.

April brought over a basin of warm water just as the little girl started crying. "WAAAAAAAHH-WAAAAAAAHHHH!" The newborn shrieked, her tiny lungs filling the room with the ear piercing chorus of an angel. As soon as Sakura heard the first cries of her little girl, that's when her heart nearly melted. Her daughter was finally born and welcomed into the world.

"Aahhh...there's the little angel..." Crusher smiled as she wrapped the crying little bundle in a towel.

"Awe...She's so adorable, Sakura..." April gushed.

"Let me see her..." Sakura gasped out. The ordeal having left her completely exhausted.

"Just a minute, we need to clean her." Crusher said as she took the little darling over to the sink. Sakura could barely muster the strength to lift her head. All she could spot was a tiny little hand reaching out at the world.

"Oh my God, Sakura. She's so precious." April's clone gushed.

"She even has pink hair, almost the same shade as yours." Hajime smiled.

"Sh...she...does...?" Sakura choked out, almost on the verge of tears.

"Yea and...whisker marks?" Crusher said in confusion.

"Wait...what?" Sakura asked. Now she wanted to see her daughter more than ever.

"Yes, she has whisker marks. Three of them on each cheek, just like Naruto. She's fussy like him too, I can barely keep her still." Crusher laughed as she tried to keep a steady grip on the baby.

"Ooohh...I wanna see her so bad..." Sakura whined.

"You will in just a moment." Crusher promised as she continued to clean the baby. Sakura closed her eyes and felt like laughing. 10 months of waiting and she would finally see her baby. Soon Naruto would return and they would be a family together. A real family.

Sakura let her head sink into her pillow, her exhaustion overtaking her, and...something else... Sakura couldn't quite place it, a sense of unease? She thought it was because of the Enterprise being engaged in combat with the Romulans, but she couldn't shake it. It was something else.

The occupants of the room all crowded around her baby, no one even paid attention to the door leading to the hallway. Sakura however felt compelled and forced her head to rise and look at the figure standing in the doorway with a disruptor rifle. She thought he was a security guard, perhaps a Vulcan crewman, until he raised his disruptor and opened fire on the staff.

Sakura couldn't tell if she screamed. It was so surreal, so quick. The disruptor fire ripped through the doctors and nurses crowded around her child. Men and women screamed without noise, their bodies contorted in disturbing configurations. Sakura couldn't make out Hajime or April in the massacre. All was just sacks of meat falling to the floor.

More Vulcans surged into Sakura's delivery room while others ran past to scour the other rooms in the med bay. Sakura looked over and saw a young nurse on her right try to raise her hands in surrender, only to be slammed into the wall by a charging Vulcan. That was when Sakura realized that the aliens she thought were Vulcans were nothing of the sort, they were Romulans.

Sakura felt her chest tightening as if she was having a heart attack. The Romulan who first broke into her room pointed his disruptor at her. Try as she might, Sakura was helpless to defend herself. Even with her chakra returned to her, the painkillers Crusher had issued her had numbed her lower half and sapped the rest of her strength. She was as threatening as a newborn kitten.

"What are you doing? Shoot her." One Romulan ordered the one pointing his disruptor at Sakura.

"Are you insane? She's pregnant." The Romulan replied.

"She was." The commander of this raid said as he held the bundle that Crusher once held.

"The Hell are you doing with that little snot?" A subordinate scoffed, before another got a good look at the child. Sakura looked on and could only see a single tuff of pink hair sticking out from behind a blanket.

"My God, are those...the demon's whisker marks?" A Romulan breathed.

"They are indeed. This child must belong to him. It's just as the Praetor's intelligence said. The demon's spawn would be born on around this time. We just lucked out getting to it on the exact day."

"So that means that this woman is his too." The first Romulan reasoned as he drew attention back to Sakura, who started to hyperventilate.

"So it would seem. I'm willing to bet she has the same strange powers as well..." the Commander mused.

"So do we take her too? She could prove invaluable for our research." One of the soldiers suggested.

"Impossible. She's too much dead weight in her condition. But maybe she could help us..." The commander mused as he looked down upon Sakura. "Perhaps you could tell us where your bastard's father is?"

"Why do you want to know? What do you want with my daughter?" Sakura asked in fear.

"Simple. Your lover, known to us as the Demon, is wanted by the Praetor for research. We wish to make his powers our own or kill him. All to pay him back for the humiliating defeat at the Gamma quadrant. Now tell us where he is..." The commander demanded.

"On an assignment...I don't know where..." Sakura replied truthfully. "Please, just give me my baby, please!" Sakura insisted. She didn't care if she had to grovel, that was her baby.

"No. This child is now property of the Praetor." The commander said firmly before walking away with the child. "Kill her. She's useless to us."

"Naruto's powers are not genetic!" Sakura exclaimed quickly, making the Commander stop.

"Explain..." the Commander demanded.

"The power he uses is called Chakra. It's a type of energy that resides in all living beings and can only be used if trained to properly harness it. Genetics mean nothing to this..." Sakura tried to explain.

"Hmm...an interesting story, but a story none the less. If it were that simple then you would be using that same power to get your child back, would you not?" The commander smirked.

"For the love of the Sage! Just please give me back my child." Sakura begged as she forced herself to sit upright, yet the Romulan soldiers would feel no empathy. Even when Sakura fell to the floor in a pathetic attempt to reach her daughter, whose cries pierced the room.

"Pathetic...we're done here." The commander said before continuing out the door with the rest of his crew.

"No! No please! Nooooo!" Sakura cried out as the last Romulan left the room, only to be stopped when Crusher reached out her hand and grabbed the Romulan's arm.

"Wait!" Crusher shouted, apparently, she had been playing dead until now.

"We've got a live one here." The Romulan shouted back to the rest of his comrades.

"Shoot her, we've got a schedule to keep." His commander shouted back.

"Wait, take me with you." Crusher begged. "I'm the Head of the Medical Division for the Enterprise. I would be invaluable to you as a hostage."

"If that were true, then why would you want to be our hostage?" The Romulan pointing his disruptor rifle at Crusher sneered.

"That baby has just come out of the womb. She's very vulnerable at this stage and could die if not properly cared for. She's useless to your research if she dies." Crusher insisted. "I will make sure she stays alive."

"How very noble of you. Can you walk?" The Romulan Commander inquired.

"Yes." Crusher said as she shakily stood up, only to be dragged along by her arm.

"Then come on." The Romulan forcibly ordered her. Crusher looked back at Sakura with misery in her eyes.

 _'I'm sorry.'_ Crusher expressed.

 _'It's okay, keep my daughter safe.'_ Sakura expressed back before she was left alone in her room with nothing but death and misery.

"Picard to sick bay. Is everything alright down there?" Picard asked with concern. "We detected disruptor fire down there and security is enroute."

"They took my baby!" Sakura cried helplessly.

* * *

On the bridge, looks of horror were spread across the faces who heard Sakura's cry.

"Councilor Troi...you have the bridge." Picard growled before shooting up out of his chair. "Riker, Worf, Data, with me. We're going to save a baby."

As the 4 of them made their way into the turbo lift, Picard tapped his combadge. "Picard to Naruto. I need you back on the ship this instant."

"Kind of in the middle of something, Captain." Naruto responded as his clones swarmed the ship.

"Romulans boarded the ship and took your daughter." Picard informed grimly.

Naruto felt the ship he was on flip end over end.

"What?!" Naruto bellowed.

"You heard me lieutenant! We're doing everything we can to get her back before the Romulans leave the ship I suggest you get yourself back here immediately!"

Naruto ducked the odd disruptor fire aimed at him and threw a kunai point blank at his would-be attacker, skewering him in the face.

"My wife! What about Sakura-chan?!" He barked.

"Her condition is unknown however she is still in sickbay"

"How in the Hell did those Romulans get aboard? What about the Security Teams?" Naruto roared.

"We don't know anything more than what Sakura has told us. you'll just have to get here and find out for yourself."

"God damn it!" Naruto roared as another wave of Romulan soldiers came charging at him, only to be cut down by his Rasenshuriken.

"All teams!" Naruto barked over his coms, breaking radio silence. "I have to return to the bridge! Finish up here and kill anyone who resists!"

"Yes sir!" Both squads sounded.

Naruto created a thousand more Shadow Clones before Thunder God-ing himself to Sakura's side. In a flash he found himself surrounded by horror. Blood and bodies scattered across the delivery room. Naruto almost couldn't focus on his wife, who sat on the ground near her bed, crying hysterically admits the massacre.

"They...they took our little girl..." Sakura sobbed.

"Sakura..." Naruto cried as he ran to his wife's side, automatically she wrapped her arms around her husband like a lifeline.

"They took our little girl...Right in front of me...I couldn't do anything...I didn't even name her...they took her and they're gonna hurt her..." Sakura choked out. She couldn't breathe. She wanted to die. Just wither away where she'd never have to remember having her daughter ripped away from her before she could even see her face. What could Naruto do except hold her close, tethering her to this cruel mortal plane?

Naruto felt himself shaking. Like a leaf in a hurricane. He wanted to act, he had to act. To do something, kill someone, tear star fleets apart...

"Lieutenant Uzumaki, is Sakura okay?" Picard asked over the coms, only to be met with silence.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki, come in." Picard ordered.

"This is Lieutenant Uzumaki...Sakura-chan is safe..." Naruto responded over the wails of his wife.

"Naruto, listen. We've located the Romulan infiltrators. They're holed up in the engine room. They've got Crusher taken hostage and are offering to release her if we lower our shields to let them teleport out. We have no confirmation that they have your daughter though."

"Do nothing at all...I will handle them personally." Naruto growled with rage.

"Naruto, we have the security officers surrounding the sector, they are ready to move in." Picard said.

"I said I will handle it." Naruto stated.

"Damn...I've never heard him that pissed before." Riker said under his breath.

"That is the sound of a father whose family has been threatened." Worf stated seriously. Remembering his own indescribable rage after the assassination of his mate by the house of Duras little over a year ago.

Back with the Uzumakis, Naruto rubbed Sakura's back, motioning for her to look at him.

"Sakura-chan..."

Sakura hiccupped against his uniform.

"Sakura-chan, look at me." Naruto requested.

Sakura pulled herself up to look at Naruto, watery green met steel blue.

"Sakura-chan, I will get our daughter back." Naruto stated. It wasn't a promise of a lifetime, or something he was going to do. It was what was going to happen. As sure as gravity made things fall and the sun would rise each morning. It was a small thing, but it made Sakura's grief feel a bit lighter.

He kissed her on the forehead, more tenderly than ever before and pulled away from her.

"I'll be back soon." Naruto swore.

"Please...bring her back safely..." Sakura pleaded. "And kill all of those Romulan bastards." She said with a dark tone of voice Naruto would call evil if he wasn't feeling the exact same things.

Naruto nodded before flashing through the hand signs for the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Uuuuhhhnn..." came a moan from the corner of the room.

Sakura and Naruto turned around to see Hajime starting to come around, his right shoulder was gone though. The disruptor rifle had taken out all of his muscles, leaving his right arm handing onto his torso by a few strips of skin.

"Sakura...I'm..." Hajime breathed out.

"Wait, don't move." Sakura ordered as she held out her palm. She remembered a trick Yamato told her that Kabuto had used on her. Long Range Mystic Palm Technique. She channeled her chakra out of her palm like a tentacle until it enveloped Hajime. Once it made contact, she began healing her distant cousin. It was slow and methodical, but it was working.

 _'So good to have my chakra back.'_ Sakura thought.

 _'Right in the nick of time.'_ Inner agreed.

"I take it, you've got this?" Naruto asked, his hands holding onto the last hand sign he needed to perform the jutsu.

"I do. Go." Sakura said quickly. She wanted her daughter back.

Naruto nodded and vanished with a yellow flash of light.

* * *

Down in engineering, the Romulans were holding the crew hostage there along with Crusher and the baby. The unnamed baby was screaming her little lungs out.

"You keep that brat quiet!" The commanding Romulan shouted at Crusher.

"I would if her mother was here." Crusher grumbled as she tried to calm the poor infant.

"That's not our problem. You keep that baby quiet or my men will grow very annoyed with it..." The Commander said ominously.

"And that's not my problem." Crusher spat.

That was when the doors to the engine room opened to reveal a very pissed off Naruto, his eyes in slits and his whisker marks thick and dark.

"Sentries!" The commander shouted and Naruto was instantly surrounded with disruptor rifles jammed in his throat.

"Give back my daughter...now..." Naruto growled in rage.

"Ensign Uzumaki I presume." The commander greeted smugly.

"Lieutenant now." Crusher corrected.

"Ah, my apologizes. I seem to recall your lover telling us you were on a mission. We weren't expecting you so soon, although my men are quite delighted to make your acquaintance." The commander said.

"The feeling isn't mutual...now give back my daughter."

"Your daughter is now property of the Romulan Star Empire and to the Praetor. We're going to use her to unlock the secrets of your powers so our troops can use it to take down Starfleet once and for all."

During the commander's speech, Naruto could only hear the cries of his infant daughter as Crusher desperately tried to calm her down, rocking her back and forth while another Romulan kept his rifle trained on her.

"You really think you're going to just warp away unchallenged? Starfleet will hunt you all down to the ends of the universe for this act of aggression." Crusher spat.

"By the time Starfleet arrives, the Enterprise will be nothing more than a burning husk of metal and plasma falling to the surface of the nearby planet, and we will be gone with no one left to know we took the baby." The commander laughed. Unknown to him or any of the Romulan soldiers, a tiny orange fox had just finished relaying a message into Naruto's ear.

"Wanna bet?" Naruto asked with menace in his voice.

The commander growled at the demon's lack of fear, yet he knew the best way to make a father suffer wasn't to shoot them and leave them for dead. It was to make him watch as he took away his child forever.

"Goodbye, Lieutenant Uzumaki." The commander smirked before he keyed his communication device. "Strike Team to Battleship, full team plus two guests to beam back to the mothership."

* * *

Two minutes previously, aboard the various Romulan battleships.

Collin and his buddy Rio were knocking out the last of the Romulan guards stationed outside the main computer room of the Romulan battleship. Giving their teammates Blake and Sam just enough time to cover the entire room with their remaining paper bombs.

"You know…when I first signed up for Starfleet I thought it would be the adventure of a lifetime." Blake admitted as Sam slapped a paper bomb on the inside of one of the consoles. "But now, with the ninja training, this job just turns into being paid to be a superhero spy."

"Amen to that, brother." Sam declared as he finished his work. "Kurama! Bombs are set!"

Mini Kurama stuck his head out of Collin's breast pocket and looked over his shoulder. **"Got it!"** Kurama shouted back as he used his limited chakra to create another mini Kurama Shadow Clone before destroying it.

* * *

Across the two other boarded battleships, the other Mini Kurama clones blinked.

" **Team C just completed their alpha priority."** Mini Kurama reported to the leader of Team Ice, who was in the middle of sprinting and leaping down a narrow hallway like a deadly bouncing ball.

"Got it!" Iceman shouted back as he took aim with his captured disruptor rifle. The Romulan guards at the end of the hall were all firing wildly at the man, but none of them had ever dealt with an aggressive force that could move so erratically. Iceman jumped to the wall of the hallway, narrowly avoiding a barrage of disruptor fire, and then kicked off the wall to hang onto the ceiling, avoiding even more fire. All the while landing perfect center mass shots on the Romulans like they were wooden ducks at the county fair duck shoot his father used to take him too. He ran upside down towards the last Romulan who was so surprised by the last shot that had sailed past his cheek and into the face of the guard standing behind him that he foolishly turned his head and received a rifle butt to the windpipe for his efforts. The Romulan fell to the deck like a sack of potatoes and Iceman quickly disarmed him.

"Clear!" Iceman shouted back for the rest of his team to round the corner and sprint down the hallway. They all looked battered by the constant fighting but none of them were seriously injured and all of them were in good spirits.

"Team C just completed their task and I am not about to come in behind Sol and his gang of teacher's pets." Iceman declared.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Ellie, the team's adorable little demolitions expert smirked as she held up a thermos sized canister marked Grant Thermite 893 that was wrapped in remote detonation paper bombs.

"Do I even want to know where you got that particular chemical?" Iceman deadpanned.

"Tell you about it over drinks after we blow this popsicle stand." Ellie smirked a devious grin.

"God, I love your psychotic brain." Manni smirked.

* * *

A few seconds later, aboard the main Romulan ship, Team Sol stood over the corpses of the security team sent to kill them.

"Well that definitely went better than expected." Dan said as he placed his paper bombs along the computer screens.

"Seriously. I thought we'd get caught way before we'd get to the computer room." Kitty added as she placed her own paper bombs.

"These Romulans are way too cocky for their own good." Sol agreed as he noticed that April was keeping quiet. Understandable since she had received her Shadow Clone's memory.

"April, don't worry about it. I'm sure Hajime and Sakura are fine." Sol consoled.

"You don't know that, Sol." April spat as she tossed another dead Romulan onto the pile.

"I do know. Because Kurama's clone just told me that Naruto got to Sakura and she and Hajime were just fine. Hajime's pretty banged up, a disruptor took a chunk out of his shoulder, but it looks like Sakura regained the use of her chakra and is healing Hajime. He's alive."

 **"It's true."** Another Kurama clone said.

April paused, her eyes watered before she ran up to Sol and slugged him in the arm with the same monster strength Sakura had been teaching her.

"Asshole! Why didn't you tell me sooner!" She cried.

"ACK! MY ARM!" Sol cried in pain.

"Oh hush! You're fine." April spat. Sol grimaced but rubbed his bruised arm.

"Grrr..." Sol moaned before he and the others ran out of the computer room while Mini Kurama let the other teams know that all three sensor relays were armed for detonation.

* * *

"Do it." Naruto whispered to his own Kurama clone hiding in this clothes while the Romulan Commander in the Enterprise's Engine Room ranted on.

"Goodbye, Lieutenant Uzumaki." The commander smirked before he keyed his communication device. "Strike Team to Battleship, full team plus two guests to beam back to the mothership."

He was answered with silence.

"Battleship, come in." The Commander ordered again frantically. He was growing worried. The other battleships should be answering and those disruptor rifles aimed at Lieutenant Naruto's throat were looking a lot less full-proof, the way Naruto was looking amused.

* * *

On the bridge of the Enterprise, things were finally going their way.

"Sir, sensors read that three of the Romulan Battleships' sensor relays are destroyed, along with their computer cores. We can override their jammers and send a message out to Starfleet." Riker reported.

"Make it so." Picard ordered.

Riker immediately sent out the distress beacon and got an automatic reply.

"Sir, the USS Sovereign has answered or distress call." Riker reported. "They are hailing."

"On screen." Picard ordered. The screen shifted to a very familiar looking captain.

"Greetings Captain Picard." She greeted.

"Ah, Captain Martin. A pleasure to say the least."

"We received your earlier distress call and we have 50 ships on standby. We're ready to move in on your order." Captain Martin said.

'Fifty!' Ro mouthed to Worf in excitement.

"We are currently being harassed by 10 Romulan battleships. The ones with destroyed sensor relays have our Security Officers on board. Leave those to detonate on their own and bring Hellfire to the rest." Picard requested.

"Acknowledged. We'll be at your location in 2 minutes. Sovereign out." Captain Martin said before closing the channel.

"Open me up a channel to main engineering where the Romulan intruders are dug in." Picard ordered.

"Channel open." Worf said.

"Attention Romulan Boarding Party. The main ship of your fleet, along with two other battleships has been destroyed. An armada of 50 Starfleet ships will arrive in seconds to destroy your remaining fleet. Surrender yourselves and your hostages and you will be unharmed. Failure to do so...and I leave your fate in the hands of my bodyguard." Picard stated with a cool ferocity that made his own crewman feel chills run up their spines.

"To hell with you, Starfleet! We will not surrender to an inferior empire!" The commander shouted.

"I was hoping you would say that." Naruto said before bursting into golden flames.

"Kill him." The commander ordered.

The Romulans pulled the trigger on their disruptors and fire at a yellow flash. Before any of them could utter their surprise, Naruto appeared behind them with his Rasenshuriken raised and cleaved their heads off their necks. Before they could hit the floor, Naruto had already turned around and shot out his chakra arm at another Romulan with his raised gun. He slammed the man into the steel pipes and went to work on attacking the other Romulans positioned around the engine room. One managed to fire a shot, but Naruto's Truth Seeker Balls intercepted the energy bolt and nulled it. A second Truth Seeker Ball shot out like a cannon and smashed into the alien's face.

Watching his platoon collapse before him, the Commander ran towards Crusher and forced the baby out of her hands. He then pulled out his hand-held disruptor and jammed it into the baby's chest.

"Don't come any closer or I'll-" The Commander tried to shout before he looked down and noticed that the baby was no longer in his hands. He looked up and saw that she was instead wrapped securely in the arms of her father, who looked at the Commander with pure despise. The Romulan looked around and saw all of his men lying dead on the floor, the disruptors all unfired.

"Do you want to surrender now?" Naruto asked in a hush whisper as he cradled his little girl, who was finally starting to calm down amidst the warm glow of her father's chakra.

"I...I was...only following orders..." The commander sputtered in fear.

"Yes, but you threatened my daughter, hurt my wife, stole my child from her cradle on the day of her birth. You can't expect me to just let that slide..." Naruto growled as he held his daughter a little closer.

The Romulan sighed and closed his eyes. "No...no I don't expect you to...do what you feel is necessary..."

"How noble of you, it almost makes me regret filling out my wife's wishes." Naruto said as he created two Shadow Clones.

"Just...do me one favor if you are willing..."

"What?"

"If you can...have a message sent out to my wife and children. Tell them...I died with honor for our empire."

Naruto nodded in understanding between the two warriors. His clones surged forward and the Commander stood tall and proud. He closed his eyes and thought of his home.

Then he felt two clouds of smoke pass by his face. He opened his eyes and only saw Demon of the Enterprise standing with his daughter.

"W-what happened?" The commander asked.

"Couldn't you just have been a complete bastard? How am I supposed to kill a father on my daughter's birthday?" Naruto sighed.

"If you don't, then I will be executed for my failures...so, either way, I will die."

"Well too damn bad. You go back to your fleet, you take the bodies of your men, and you show high command that the crew of the Enterprise is capable of mercy." Naruto stated.

"Actually, Naruto. We can't allow that." Crusher stated.

"What? Why not?" Naruto demanded as his daughter began to fuss.

"He would be treated as an aggressor of war; therefore, we must imprison him as is Starfleet Protocol."

"Fine. Just send the bodies back, or don't, I don't care. I've got more important things to take care of..." Naruto stated as he turned around to walk back to the med bay.

The commander sighed. "I suppose this is better than the alternative..."

"You're lucky he spared you. Whether he'll forgive you or not is another story. Personally, I wouldn't have been so kind." Crusher said.

"He's not getting invited to her first birthday party! That's for damn sure!" Naruto shouted back, making his daughter cry.

The doors opened to the engine room where Starfleet officers flooded the area.

"Good work, Naruto." Worf said before looking at the bundle in his arms. "So...they did have her...for what reason?"

"Ask their commander. I'll be with my wife." Naruto said as he walked past the Klingon.

"Very well then..." Worf said before turning to his crew. "Take the Romulan commander into custody.

* * *

Naruto meanwhile left the engine room behind and readjusted the bundle in his arms. His pace never breaking out of a fast stride. It was only when he felt a tiny little arm pawing at his chin that he looked down and was broken out of his trace.

There, in his arms, was the most precious little thing he had ever seen. A little human being, so pudgy and small, with her eyes closed, trying to grasp at everything the world around her had to offer. Naruto instantly recognized the shade of pink adorning her little fuzzy head, and could swear he had only seen a forehead that adorably large on one other person before. But perhaps the most striking feature was the six thin whisker marks (three on each cheek) adorned on her face, just like him. She cried out and Naruto instantly fell in love with this little girl he had officially met a few minutes ago. He wanted to do everything for her, keep her from ever having to cry every again.

"Hey there angel...I'm your da-" Naruto tried to speak but he choked on the last word. "I'm your daddy..." He cried.

The little thing seemed to settle down after that and nuzzled her head deeper into his arm.

"...Everything that I have...and everything that I am...is yours...forever..." He cried before kissing her on the forehead.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard the main Romulan Warbird, Volaris and Datha were rushing to the escape pods. The ships alarms were blaring and officers were screaming as command broke down in a desperate attempt to save their own skins. The Computer Room had been destroyed and their ship was doomed. Never mind the Life Support systems were gone, the ship's Quantum Singularity core had become unstable without the main computer to regulate it. They had minutes before the ship destroyed itself.

As if that weren't enough, reinforcements had arrived to assist the Federation ship. 50 ships in total. They were currently tearing Volaris's fleet of Warbirds to pieces with no quarter given.

"Out of my way!" Volaris shouted as he shoved a lesser officer aside as he ran down the hallways to the nearest escape pod.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Datha lectured as she ran behind him. Volaris reminded himself to kill his sister once he returned to Romulan controlled space.

They reached an unclaimed pod and Volaris hit the button to open the door. He cursed at the demon and his accursed family. One day he would have revenge on them all. He would destroy them. And their blasted ship the Enterprise.

"Hey, nice escape pod you've got there." A voice spoke from behind the two Romulans.

Volaris turned around and found himself faced to face with four Federation Security Officers dressed in strange combat garb.

"Hey wait a minute." One of the male Federation Dogs spoke. "You're the guy in charge of this whole stupid ambush in the first place, aren't you?" Dan asked as he noticed the commander uniform that Volaris wore.

"So then you're the one who has been harassing my cousin and his family." April snarled as she cracked her knuckles at the two Romulans.

Volaris drew his portable disruptor and pointed it at the four ninjas. "And what if I am?"

"Then I have a gift for you from my cousin-in-law." April said before she flash-stepped in front of Volaris and socked him right in the nose. The Romulan commander crumpled to the ground, clutching his nose and crying out.

"Brother!" Datha cried before being knocked out by a karate chop to the back of the neck by Sol.

"Well that was easy too." Dan declared.

"So, what do we do now? Take them with us?" Kitty asked. One of their objectives was to take the Romulan commander alive if possible.

All eyes turned on Sol, for at the end of the day, the decision fell upon him as team leader.

"Leave him." Sol stated bluntly. "He's not gonna harass our sensei or his family ever again."

The rest of Team Sol nodded and they promptly stepped over the two Romulans and shut the escape pod behind them and jetted away to safety.

* * *

Before Naruto knew it, he had made it to sickbay where Sally's mom Amanda Adams was outside waiting for him.

"Naruto! Thank god!" She exclaimed joyfully.

"Mrs. Adams, what are you doing here?" Naruto smiled.

"Picard sent me. With Crusher missing and all the other chaos going on, he was worried that Sakura would be emotionally distraught. I was sent up here to be an emergency mid-wife." Amanda explained. "You should be happy to know that Hajime is stable. Some nurses took him away to another room where he should be awaiting treatment. But his cheeks looked to be full of color when I saw him."

"Oh thank God. Did anyone else survive?" Naruto asked.

"Just one other nurse..." April said shamefully. "Naruto...I'm so sorry for what you both went through. No one, especially brand new parents should ever have to go through what you both just experienced."

"Don't worry about it. I got her back and that is all that matters." Naruto said without regret.

"Right..." Amanda said. "Anyway, Sakura is waiting for you."

"Thank you." Naruto nodded.

Naruto walked past her and into sickbay, where he saw Sakura getting cleaned up by two nurses that had been off duty when all of this madness started.

"And you're all set." One nurse smiled.

"Thank you." Sakura smiled before she looked to the door to see Naruto holding onto a bundle in his arms. That was when she couldn't help but cry. "My baby..."

"Safe and sound..." Naruto said happily as he carefully handed the bundle over.

That was when Sakura got a good look at her. Pink hair, whisker marks, and her trademark large forehead.

"Oh my god...she's beautiful..." Sakura choked out.

"She is... The most perfect little girl in the world..." Naruto smiled.

"Little Chiyo..." Sakura smiled as a tear traveled down her cheek.

Chiyo fussed in her mother's arms, letting out a little whine.

"Hello Chiyo...I'm your mother..." Sakura gently spoke. At once, Chiyo stopped fussing and opened her blue eyes.

"Oh my god..." Sakura gasped. "She's got your eyes..."

"And she's got your hair and your forehead. I told you those would be great together." Naruto praised.

"But...how does she have whisker marks?" Sakura asked.

"No idea...genetics?" Naruto suggested.

"But, I thought you said that Kurama's Chakra was how you got yours?"

"Yeah, but that was because my mom was his jinchuriki when she was pregnant with me...so maybe his chakra seeped into my DNA or something...?" Naruto sputtered.

 _ **'Maybe my chakra is so intertwined with yours after years of using it that enough of it seeped into your sperm.'**_ Kurama suggested.

"Huh...Kurama just pointed out something that made sense."

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"That because I use his chakra so much that it mixed with mine in my semen. That went into you and... Well, I guess that was enough." Naruto shrugged.

"Huh...that actually does make sense." Sakura shrugged before Chiyo started fussing.

"Sounds like she's hungry." The other nurse pointed out.

"She's not the only one." Naruto smiled as his own stomach growled.

"Baby comes first..." Sakura scolded. "Um...my mind is still a bit fuzzy."

"You need to breast feed her." The first nurse reminded her.

"Oh, right. Why couldn't I remember that?" Sakura wondered as she tried to ease her breast out, but her hands were full. "Little help please?"

Naruto quickly helped undress Sakura, who brought their daughter to her chest. Acting on instinct, Chiyo latched onto her mother and began suckling away.

"You want something to eat? I can send a Shadow Clone..." Naruto offered.

"I got you guys covered." Amanda said as she went into the next room.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"There's a replicator in here." The second nurse said.

"Thank you." Naruto said gratefully, he didn't want to leave his family's side for a second. _'This is my family.'_ He thought giddily.

 _ **'I know. Hard to believe ain't it?'**_ Kurama smirked.

 _'It... It is...It's a dream come true...'_ Naruto thought.

"Heheh...it tickles..." Sakura giggled a little.

Naruto felt his heart skip a beat at hearing Sakura giggle again. Not a half an hour ago, she looked more devastated than he had ever seen her. Worse than when Sasuke had left, worse than when her one of her youngest patients had died. To see her smile again after seeing her standing on the brink was magical.

"IF there was ever a moment I had regrets for allowing myself to get pregnant...its long gone now..." Sakura sighed happily.

"Same. I love you Sakura-chan..." Naruto sighed.

"I love you too Naruto-kun..." Sakura cried happily.

The happy family was broken out of their trance by a light tapping against the walls.

"May we come in?" Picard whispered as he and the rest of the main crew stood outside the door.

"In a minute, Sakura is feeding." Amanda said.

"That's fine, may I speak with you, Ensign?" Picard requested.

"Of course." Amanda said.

"I would like to know about the newest addition to our crew." Picard gave a tired smile. Amidst so much chaos and destruction, who wouldn't welcome the slightest bit of good news?

Amanda smiled. "Little Chiyo Uzumaki is in good health and is happily with her parents."

A quick cheer spread out amongst the heads of the ship. Riker slapped the shoulder of Geordi, Troi and Crusher covered their mouths in joy, and Worf gave a proud smile.

"That's fantastic news, Ensign. Anything else you can tell us? Height, weight?" Picard asked.

"Um, no. I'm sorry, I'm not medically trained for that." Amanda admitted.

Picard nodded before one of the nurses spoke up.

"She has pink hair, blue eyes and her father's whisker marks." The older nurse of the two, added.

"50 centimeters long and weighing 7 pounds exactly." Crusher added.

"All clear guys!" Naruto called out to them.

"That's our queue." Riker smiled as he and the staff all surged into the room and surrounded the happy family.

"Hey guys. Say hi to Chiyo." Naruto smiled

The crew beheld a sleepy little bundle with pink fuzzy hair and an adorable set of whisker marks.

"Awww...she's adorable..." Troi gushed softly.

"Thank you." Sakura smiled. Her body was caked on sweat and her hair was sticking to her forehead, but to everyone looking at her she gave off a sense of radiance they had never noticed about her. Except for Naruto of course.

"She looks as if you two became one person." Picard smiled.

"That's usually what happens when two people have a baby, Picard." Crusher teased.

"Remarkable." Data commented in what appeared to be simulated awe.

 _'Is it me, or is it cute that Data would fake intrigue for our daughter?'_ Sakura thought to herself.

 _'Considering he Longs for emotions but is incapable of them I'd say that's pretty flattering.'_ Inner said.

"Thank you, Data." Sakura smiled.

"I'm going to make an announcement if you don't mind." Picard stated.

"Fire away." Naruto said.

"By all means." Sakura nodded.

Picard nodded before stepping outside so as not to disturb the baby.

"Attention crew of the Enterprise-E..." He spoke into his combadge. "Twice now the Romulans sought out our beloved vessel to use us as a rallying cry for their war against the Federation, and twice now we have repelled them. Not without great cost I'm afraid. The brave men and women lost today in the line of duty shall never be forgotten, not by Starfleet nor by any of us..." Picard paused to grant those honorable fallen a moment of silence. "However, amidst even the darkest clouds there is always a silver lining. For with all the crewmembers we have lost today, I am pleased to announce that we have gained a new one..." Picard smiled.

"She is 50 centimeters tall, weighing 7 pounds, with pink hair and blue eyes, born 0927 hours on stardate 478965. Born to our crew's most enigmatic couple; Lieutenant Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki. Please join me in welcoming aboard our newest crewmate, Chiyo Uzumaki."

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Yes! We did it! Chiyo is born! The Uzumaki family is complete! Oh sweet merciful Buddha, this chapter was work. Had to be written, then rewritten because I thought it went by too fast. And now it is here and I am genuinely proud of it. I hope you enjoyed reading it.**

 **Tell us what you think. Justify our months of toil. And we will see you in the next one.**


	21. Chapter 21: Corneria

Chapter 21: Corneria

 **Author's Note from Panda: Hey guys, you all are gonna laugh when you hear this. We practically had this chapter ready to go almost two months ago, it was on the doc manager and everything. We just forgot about it until now. Tee hee, silly us.**

 **Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. On to this chapter, which serves more as a nice relaxing little chapter after the massive blowout that was chapter 20.**

* * *

3 days later, after that major ordeal, the Uzumaki family were busy fussing over their new baby who they just couldn't stop smiling at as they watched her sleep on her mother's chest.

"I want to kill our baby. Now she finally lets us get some sleep?" Naruto said with a smile on his face.

"I do too. But these urges will pass once she starts sleeping through the night." Sakura smiled as she held her daughter with care.

 **"You know, I don't think Tsunade has seen her yet."** Kurama pointed out.

"Goodie for her." Naruto said as he headed over to the replicator to get some coffee for him and Sakura.

"Naruto, he does have a point. We should call her." Sakura stated.

"We just got her to sleep. Can't this wait for when she wakes up again in twenty minutes?" Naruto whined.

"She was just born a few days ago, Naruto. This is a normal thing." Sakura scolded.

"I know. Which is why I want us to catch some Z's now. That's my hierarchy on my list of priorities anyway." Naruto said as he typed in his commands into the replicator control panel.

"Naruto, the replicator is voice command only." Sakura reminded him. Naruto turned towards the replicator to see that he was pushing his fingers against a blank wall.

"I really need some sleep." Naruto moaned.

 **"How about I take Little Kit for a bit and then introduce her to Granny Tsunade? And you two can get some sleep."** Kurama suggested.

"Oh man, you're a life saver..." Naruto moaned as he shuffled his feet back into the bedroom.

Sakura just stared at Kurama, her hands protectively held around her pride and joy.

"I'm not handing her over to you if you're going to carry her with your tails." Sakura stated.

Kurama then exploded into a puff of smoke which blew away with the breeze to reveal him assuming the form of Naruto's mother. Complete with housewife apron, long flowing red hair, and the added feature of three whisker marks like Naruto and Chiyo had.

 **"This form work for you?"**

Sakura smiled. "Yes, that works."

Carefully, ever so carefully, Sakura pulled Chiyo offer of her bosom and handed her to Kurama transformed into Kushina. Sakura had handled a thousand babies in her time spent working in the maternity ward back in the Leaf or in the Sickbay, but now she held her breath every time her precious little angel hung in the air supported by the hands of another. Kurama took Chiyo carefully into his own paws and placed the little kit against his chest. Chiyo squirmed, but soon settled into the familiar shapes.

"Thank you so much, Kurama...seriously." Sakura said gratefully.

 **"Don't worry about it. Just put up a silencing jutsu and I'll take care of everything while you two get some sleep."**

"And you'll come get me if anything happens?" Sakura insisted. "If she starts coughing. Or if she gets hungry. Or if she develops a fever..."

 **"Sakura, relax. I've got it. Remember, I was in Kushina when she was born. I know how to take care of your Kit."**

"I know...but she's just so precious. I finally understand why Naruto acted so protective." Sakura said as observed how Chiyo's back moved as she breathed in and out. The mundanity of the human body found new excitement for this doctor when it was her own daughter.

 **"Just go get some sleep. I'll call ya if I need ya."**

"Okay..." Sakura said as he had to touch Chiyo's back one last time, just to feel her warmth. "I'll be in the next room if you need me."

Kurama just nodded before watching Sakura walk away and close the bedroom door behind her.

An entire four seconds after Sakura closed the door, Naruto came back out the door in a hurry.

"I know I said some things but I just need to check up on her for one quick second." Naruto stated as he zeroed in on Chiyo.

 **"Kit...she is just fine. Don't worry about it."** Kurama sighed.

"I know...but maybe I don't really need to sleep. I'm not tired. Besides, what if something happens? And why are you transformed into my mother?"

 **"Your vixen's idea...anyway, nothing is gonna happen to her while I'm watching her. So just go to bed."**

"Right, you're right. Sakura-chan is smart. She knows best." Naruto said, mostly to himself.

 **"Go to bed."** Kurama repeated.

"Right, sorry." Naruto nodded before slipping back into the bedroom.

6 hours later, Sakura was the first to wake up, feeling rather hungry. She quietly got out of bed, put on her robe and walked out into the living room where she saw Kurama back in his original form, playing with Chiyo on the couch.

"How is our little bundle of joy doing?" Sakura asked as she did a visual check to see that Chiyo still had all of her limbs intact.

 **"She's been a little angel. She woke up about an hour ago. I fed her, burped her, changed her diaper and now I'm just keeping her entertained."**

"Oh, that's nice...wait, feed her? She's three days old. You put her on formula?"

 **"No. I got breast milk from the replicator. Strange that they'd have that there."**

"Yes..." Sakura replied. "Just call me next time she needs feeding."

"Yawn..." Naruto declared as he stepped outside of the bedroom. "Where is my little Chiyo-chan?"

 **"Right here."** Kurama said as he tickled Chiyo with one of his tails, making her giggle.

"Awww...that's so adorable..." Sakura gushed.

"She really is." Naruto said as he had to stick his hand over Chiyo and make a silly face.

Just then, they heard a beeping sound coming from their PAD. Sakura tore herself away from watching Naruto and Kurama play with Chiyo long enough to answer the PAD.

"Lieutenant Sakura here." She answered before the video screen came up.

"Lieutenant Sakura, this is Hokage Tsunade Senju." Her master smirked.

Sakura smiled brightly. "Lady Tsunade! We were just about to call you."

"Oh really? Well I called to check in on your progress with your pregnancy. You should be due soon." Tsunade stated.

"Ha, you're about 3 days too late on that account." Sakura smiled as bright as Naruto.

"What? You gave birth already?! Show me! I wanna see her!" Tsunade demanded happily.

"You got it." Sakura smiled as she turned the PAD around. Tsunade could see through the front facing camera Naruto and Kurama hunched over some squirming little bundle on the couch. Tsunade felt her chest tighten as the camera came closer and closer to the little bundle until the PAD was held directly over the baby.

There she was. A full body camera of the product of Tsunade's two favorite young ninjas. She felt like crying. It was her granddaughter. Her hair as pink as Sakura's with Naruto's whisker marks on her two chubby cheeks.

"Chiyo Uzumaki. Meet Tsunade Senju, your grandmother." Sakura stated as Chiyo cooed at the brightly colored box hanging over her.

"Awwwww..." Tsunade gushed as she wiped tears from her eyes. "She's absolutely perfect..."

"Thanks, Granny." Naruto said from off screen. Tsunade could just look at little Chiyo all day long. Her tiny hands trying to grasp the world.

"Wait a minute. Chiyo? Did you name her after that old crone from the Sand?" Tsunade asked.

"I did. She had a huge hand in saving Gaara and giving me insight to many things." Sakura stated.

"So did I. You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm just annoyed that I can't hold my surrogate granddaughter right now." Tsunade said as Sakura brought the PAD back up to face both her and Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade. I wish you could come see her." Sakura said.

"Don't worry about me. Just make sure to record everything. I'm sure your parents will want to see this even more than me." Tsunade said.

"Are they in the know about our mission?" Sakura asked.

"They are not. As far as anyone outside of this video conference knows, you two are on a long-term Triple S-ranked ANBU mission." Tsunade replied.

"Then we can't show them the video because they will ask questions." Naruto said.

"We can't, no. Even if you two sent a letter, it would raise too many questions. The Prime Directive is the final secret of the Hokage." Tsunade said sadly.

"Um...about that." Sakura started, making Tsunade raise an eyebrow. "Captain Picard said that Starfleet is looking over our findings I told you about and should be consulting with you and the other Kages on abolishing the Prime Directive on our planet."

"In that case, I will be sharing these videos with your parents on that day." Tsunade said.

"And our friends, especially Ino. She'll want to know the most."

"Of course, but you two should be here to give the news yourself. Videos and photos are a tiny thing compared to meeting little Chiyo for themselves."

"Well, we have another 4 years to go, so." Naruto stated

"Yes, but the fact that you proved that humans and Element and Earth are related means that the Prime Directive could be abolished sooner. At the very least, this means that when you return you can tell all of your friends about your adventures." Tsunade tried to consul.

"This is true and I can't wait for that time." Sakura said.

"Same here. You do not know what kind of torture it is to not run out of my office and grab Shizune to show her Chiyo." Tsunade said.

"I understand. We'd love for her to-"

"Attention Lieutenants Naruto and Sakura. Your presence is required in the meeting lounge." They heard Worf over the coms.

Chiyo cried out at the scary new noise and the two parents sighed.

"Never a dull moment." Naruto sighed.

 **"I'll take care of her. You two just go."** Kurama said.

"Alright. You call us the second there is trouble. I'm serious." Naruto stated.

 **"Yes, I know."**

"I'll let you two go. I'll speak to you later." Tsunade said before she closed the channel.

Five minutes later, Naruto and Sakura were cleaned, dressed, and walking right through the door to the meeting lounge. "Lieutenant Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki, reporting." Naruto spoke upon entering the room.

"Have a seat you two." Picard said as he stood by the view screen on the wall.

Naruto and Sakura nodded before taking a seat next to Riker and Troi.

"Starfleet just contacted me a short while ago. Once we finish with refit and repairs, we'll be plotting a course to the Lylat System." Picard announced, earning some confused looks.

"Lylat System? I've never heard of it." Riker said.

"It is a recently discovered system near the Badlands Sector. It has 3 M-Class Planets and several other planets surrounding a star similar to the Sol System. The system is populated with a humanoid culture that has space travel abilities and is widely used for trading and defense throughout the system. The capital world being the M-Class Planet of Corneria." Data explained.

"Badlands Sector. Why do I not like the sound of that?" Sakura asked.

"I am not certain. It is not a dangerous region of Federation Space." Data said.

"Except for the Maquis." Troi stated.

"Yes, the Maquis inhabit the region around the Badlands nebula. However, the Lylat system is well outside of that region so we shouldn't run into them." Picard assured. "Nevertheless, our mission is a diplomatic mission. We are to proceed to Lylat 4, or Corneria as Mr. Data pointed out, and meet with the planets military leader and political advisor; General Pepper."

Naruto snorted. "Seriously?"

"Is there a problem, Mr. Uzumaki?" Picard asked, being completely serious.

"No...heh...it's just...General Pepper. I don't know why, it's just a funny name."

"So is your name, Mr. Fishcake Swirl." Riker joked.

"That's Lieutenant Fishcake Swirl to you, sir." Naruto joked back.

"And that would make you Cherry Blossom Swirl." Crusher joked at Sakura.

"That sounds like some kind of ice cream." Sakura shrugged.

"Maybe that's why you're so sweet." Naruto replied slyly.

"If we are all done joking around..." Picard mumbled. "Anyway, Mr. Data. You may proceed."

"Yes sir." Data said as he brought up some pictures of the indigenous people. "The habitants of this system are primarily Anthropomorphic species of Earth Animals, similar to the Catian Empire."

Naruto leaned over towards Sakura to have her explain it to him in simpler terms.

"Animal people, Naruto." Sakura whispered.

"Aah." Naruto whispered back.

"And this will be a genuine diplomatic mission? No fleet of ships will be waiting to try their luck with us?" Crusher asked.

"It is doubtful, Doctor. Their ships would not stand a chance against the Enterprise. Their weapons are laser based with plasma propulsion systems and plasma based shields. However, they do possess a type of faster than light travel, but it is not warp drive. I believe it is a form of transwarp called hyperspace." Data explained.

"But it is faster than light, correct?" Picard asked.

"Affirmative, sir." Data confirmed.

"Am I having a stroke, or does this sound like an actual bodyguarding mission for us?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"It's possible." Sakura replied.

"Hey Picard. Are we sure we aren't expecting any trouble?" Naruto asked.

"None, Lieutenant. You and your wife will be doing exactly what we originally brought you on board to do." Picard confirmed.

"Well that'll be a nice change of pace." Sakura smiled. Finally, a guard duty mission.

"It feels weird." Naruto admitted. "You sure you don't want me to have the ANBU set up a defensive perimeter around us when we visit with the leaders?"

"Positive. This is purely a diplomatic mission." Picard stated.

"I am also told that after the initial meetings, there will be a party thrown in our honor."

Sakura and Naruto looked at one another and smiled.

"Hell, I'm game." Sakura said.

"Same here. Oh, but we need to find a baby sitter for Chiyo." Naruto said.

"I'm sure Amanda Adams would be more than willing." Troi suggested.

"Sally would definitely love the chance to spend time with her baby sister." Naruto smirked as he and Sakura remembered how Sally was literally running up the walls in excitement once she got to meet Chiyo.

"True...alright, that can work." Sakura said.

"How is Chiyo doing anyway?" Crusher asked. The rest of the commanders all leaned forward to listen in.

"Happy and healthy." Sakura smiled.

"And crying all the time..." Naruto grumbled.

"Yea...there is that..." Sakura sighed.

Crusher chuckled. "My son was like that all the time when he was first born. You get used to it. Then they start crawling."

"God, I hope so..." Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.

 **"Chief Kurama to staff meeting. I need Sakura back here. Chiyo's hungry."** Kurama said over the coms.

"No problem. I believe that is everything unless someone has anything else to report?" Picard asked.

"Just the refit and repairs report." Geordi said.

"You don't need to be here for that. Go on, Lieutenant." Picard said.

"Thank you." Sakura said before getting up and leaving the room.

"No wait, take me with you." Naruto hissed, dreading the no doubt boring refit report, but Sakura was already gone by the time he called for her.

 _'Darn it.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he sat back in his chair while Geordi began explained how all the little sectors in the Enterprise were coming along in terms of repairs.

* * *

A few days later, the Enterprise was seen leaving Starbase 24 and warping to the Lylat system in what they hoped would be just a diplomatic mission.

During their warp, the Uzumaki, the Adams, and all of the ANBU ninjas could be found on the holodeck getting Sakura ready for her first day back out on the field.

"OH, MY GOOOOD!" Manni shouted as Sakura grabbed him by the collar and threw him clear across the holodeck, right into Iceman who was standing by in the trees, waiting to attack.

April and Sol meanwhile landed in between Sakura and started double teaming her. When one threw a punch, the other aimed a low kick at Sakura's legs to try to throw her off balance. She blocked them both with ease.

"What?!" Sol exclaimed.

"How...?" April gasped.

Sakura just smirked. "I've been doing this a lot longer than you have." She said before blowing them both back.

Ellie then threw a hail of silent senbon needles at Sakura (their tips dulled to not pierce). The first one missed Sakura's ear, but the veteran ANBU picked up exactly where its brothers would be coming from after that. She twirled around the other senbon until she grabbed the last needle out of thin air.

"HOLY!" Ellie cried out before Sakura threw back the senbon and having it pierce the tree trunk right behind Ellie's cheek.

Ellie just quietly shrunk off to the penalty zone where Naruto, Kurama, and the Adams where watching over Chiyo and the match.

"Where is the baby?" Jack Adams said as he covered his face with his hands. "There she is!" He said as he opened his hands to reveal that his face hadn't disappeared, much to Chiyo's delight.

"Oh, she's an angel." Amanda Adams sighed as she served Naruto and Sally their picnic sandwiches while Kurama bathed in the artificial sun.

"Seriously, Naruto? Is this the best they have?" Sakura asked nonchalantly as she caught a kunai aimed for her head with just two fingers.

"Well cut them some slack. They've had less time to train than any ninja in history. I'd rate them all Chunin back at our village. It's not their fault that they are facing off against the second Slug Sannin." Naruto defended.

"Chunin? Ha! I'd rate them as Genin and 1st year at that." Sakura said before she side-stepped three fireballs that were spat at her.

"Genin this!" April shouted just before she launched a barrage of lightning chakra enhanced kunai.

Sakura countered with her own barrage of shuriken, which the lightning enhanced kunai merely shot through like hot knifes through butter. April may have had to dodge the shrapnel remains of the shuriken, but at least her kunai found their mark. Including right in the dead center of Sakura's forehead diamond seal.

"Oh crap!" April shouted before Sakura exploded into smoke and was replaced with a log.

"Not bad, April." Sakura said behind her.

"Huh?" April asked before she felt the cool metal of Sakura's kunai hanging underneath her throat.

"But a Chunin level move executed by a Genin, is still a Genin move." Sakura lectured.

April just smirked before Sakura felt the metal of a kunai under her throat.

"You think so, huh?" April said behind her before her clone blew up in a cloud of smoke.

"I do." Clone Sakura said before she burst into smoke. April immediately turned around, expecting an attack from behind, but Sakura was married to the master of Shadow Clones. She used the smoke as cover to run up and attack April from the front. Landing a chakra enhanced punch right in April's turned cheek.

April was sent flying dozens of yards before skidding to a halt.

"Good try, April!" Naruto called out in between bites of his roast beef sandwich.

Sakura looked around her to see only two of Naruto's ANBU still standing, albeit barely.

"Shameful. Had you all been in the Leaf, you wouldn't be ANBU." Sakura said in disgust. "A few of you have some decent skills, but not enough seasoning."

"Hey, they've lasted this long against a Sannin. True Genin would have been wiped out half an hour ago." Naruto pointed out.

"Maybe, but as a fellow member of the ANBU I can't let this be our standard of excellence. I'm going to have to take a more active role in helping you train them, Naruto." Sakura declared, making the ninjas present all groan.

"Don't fucking groan. If we didn't step in, you'd still be running around aimlessly with phaser rifles shooting at anything that moves. You wanna be the best of the best, don't you? Then you need to work harder. My training for this was 10 times harder than what you're going through." Sakura lectured.

"Hey, you're not our sensei. Naruto is. Lieutenant, say something!" Iceman shouted.

"Oh man, it's gonna suck to be you guys!" Naruto laughed with his mouth full of roast beef.

"Looks like I'm taking over." Sakura smirked.

"Well I'd say more of a partnership. But if she threatens to punch me than you guys are on your own." Naruto smiled, making the rest of the ninjas sweat drop.

"Bridge to holodeck 3." They heard Picard say over the coms.

"Go ahead." Sally answered.

"I need Naruto and Sakura on the bridge. We're getting ready to enter the Lylat system."

"We're busy with a picnic. Call back later." Sally replied.

"I beg your pardon? Who is this?" Picard demanded.

The adults all snickered to themselves at Sally's adorableness.

"Who are you? You called us." Sally replied. Making the officers on the bridge snicker as well.

"Sally, that's captain Picard." Naruto whispered to her.

"You don't know that. It could be an alien invader who stole our Captain's voice." Sally stated with conviction. She knew what she was talking about too. She saw a movie about it last night.

"I told you, you shouldn't have let her watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Amanda lectured her husband Jack.

"This is Captain Picard. I demand your name, rank, and serial number." Picard ordered, his voice fuming.

"Sorry, Captain. That was little Sally Adams. This is Naruto." Naruto said laughing.

"Of course, it is...I need you and Sakura on the bridge. We're about to drop out of warp." Picard said, clearly not amused.

"We will be there shortly. Naruto out." He said before cutting the communication.

"Mrs. Adams, I trust that looking after Chiyo won't be too much of a hassle?" Naruto asked.

"None at all, Naruto. Now go on." Amanda smiled.

"You guys are lifesavers. Don't even hesitate if you need a babysitter for Sally." Naruto said as he, Sakura, and Kurama all headed out the door.

Sometime later, the 3 of them arrived on the bridge, just as the ship dropped out of warp.

"We have entered the Lylat system. Approaching the planet Fortuna." Data announced.

"Fortuna? I thought we were going to Corneria." Sakura pointed out.

"We are, but it's on the other side of the system." Riker stated before the proximity sensor started beeping.

"Captain, sensors are picking up two large fleets currently engaged in combat." Data informed.

"Fucking typical." Naruto sighed as he hurriedly sat down on his seat.

"What do you make of them?" Picard asked.

"The attacking fleet seems to match that of the ships used by the Cornerian defense fleet, the defending fleet I am not sure of their origin...We are being hailed." Data reported.

"On screen."

The screen shifted from the planet to a grey rabbit man wearing some kind of uniform.

"This is Peppy Hare of the Star Fox team under jurisdiction to General Pepper. Identify yourself."

"This is Captain Picard of the Federation Starship USS Enterprise. Can we assist in any way?" Picard asked.

"Federation...What brings you folks out this way?" Peppy asked in awe.

"We are here on a diplomatic mission by request of General Pepper. What exactly is going on here?" Picard asked.

"Oh we're just getting rid of remnants of a terrorist cell that has plagued our system for years, but we should be able to handle it." Peppy stated.

"Are you certain? It seems that your fleet is taking quite a beating." Picard said.

"I'm sure. We don't want to drag you into our problems. You just continue on to Corneria while we clean up this mess." Peppy assured.

Picard and the rest of the bridge crew looked at one another before Picard shrugged. "If that is your wish, we'll respect it."

"Captain, one ship from the defending group has broken away and is on an intercept course for us." Worf reported.

"Tactical analysis." Picard ordered.

"22 fusion generated pulse lasers and 4 neutron propelled missile launchers as well as titanium carbide Hull and plasma based shields...They are no match for the Enterprise." Worf reported.

"They'd amount to nothing more than cannon fodder." Riker commented.

"Their weapons wouldn't even make it past the nav shields." Sakura added.

"They have locked weapons and are firing." Worf announced before the ship vibrated slightly. "They hit is with 60 megawatt lasers, no damage."

"Hail them." Picard ordered.

"Save your breath, Captain." Peppy said. "They have no interest in negotiating with anyone."

"I will be the judge of that, if it is all the same to you." Picard said. "Hail them."

"No response. They are firing again." Worf responded.

"Then fire back, Mr. Worf."

"Aye, sir." Worf said before he launched one photon torpedo at the attacking ship, destroying it instantly. "Ship destroyed."

"That was one of their battleships and you took it out so quickly..." Peppy said in awe.

"Our weapons are far superior to your own, I'm afraid. Are you...certain you do not want our help?" Picard asked.

Peppy thought about it for a minute and nodded. "If you can clear a path to the planet, we can focus on their ground forces and their base. And after thinking about it, aiding us would certainly gain you favors with General Pepper."

"Acknowledged. Send us your telemetry on the enemy ships and we'll do what we can." Picard said.

"Sending data now." Peppy said as he transferred over his computer data to the Enterprise. "Data transmitted. You should have it."

Picard looked to Worf who was reading his screen before looking up and nodding. "Data received. Standby to make your run."

"Understood, Enterprise. Great Fox out." Peppy said before closing the channel.

"Alright...lets help them out. Helm, take us straight into the enemy fleet. Mr. Worf, fire at will once we are in range." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Worf and Ro responded. Ro maneuvered the Enterprise in position, easily dwarfing most of the other ships as it flew in between the enemy ships and the Corneria defense fleet.

"Target the nearest ship and fire at will." Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir." Worf stated.

One by one, the terrorist ships were systematically destroyed, carving a patch for the Cornerian ships to assault the base.

"Well, this is boring." Sakura sighed.

"Seriously." Naruto added.

"Well considering the beating we took I think it's kinda amusing." Riker stated.

"Hmmm..." Naruto muttered, he didn't find this amusing.

"Quite...Mr. Worf, how close are we to the planet?" Picard asked.

"Nearly there...Wait. we're being hailed...By the lead terrorist ship." Worf reported.

"Cease firing and put them on screen." Picard ordered.

The screen view changed to a well-dressed ape looking man who looked absolutely furious.

"This is Captain Picard from the USS Enterprise-E, diplomatic vessel of Star Fleet and the United Federation of Planets. To whom am I speaking?" Picard spoke dutifully.

"I am the great Andrew Oikiny. How dare you attack my troops?!"

"Forgive me, but I am under the impression that one of your ships attacked mine first. We tried to hail you before opening fire, but you did not respond. Not to mention the fleet you are currently engaging with has recently made efforts to join the Federation. Making them our allies." Picard explained.

"I don't care WHO you are! You will bow down to the rightful Emperor and heir to the great Andross or die!"

 _ **'Is he serious? His pea shooters didn't make a dent in us while we have been picking off his battleships like flies?'**_ Kurama thought to Naruto.

 _'He's serious...he's hiding something.'_ Naruto thought back.

"I will give you one last chance. Surrender peacefully to the Cornerians or we will destroy the remainder of your fleet." Picard ordered.

"Never! Fire the assault cannons!" Andrew barked before closing the channel.

"Sir, we are detecting a massive power surge from their lead ship." Data reported.

Picard was skeptical. "How much?"

"Power is at 800 gigawatts and rising." Worf reported.

"That would have destroyed the Enterprise D without much effort." Riker commented.

"And what about the Enterprise E?" Naruto asked.

"We can take a 2 Terrawatt burst before the shields collapse." Data said.

"Power build up at 1.3 Terrawatts." Worf reported.

"Shields up." Picard ordered.

The crew all braced themselves as the enemy ship's power reached its peak and they unleashed their cannon.

4 bright read beams shot out from Oikiny's ship and impacted against the Enterprise shields, causing the ship to shake violently and the red alert alarms to blare.

"Shields at 50% and dropping!" Worf reported.

"Forward hull plating bulking! Hull breach imminent!" Riker announced.

"Long range sensors offline! Auxiliary power down to 10%!" Sakura announced.

"Dorsal phasers offline!" Naruto reported before the beams ceased.

"Status report!" Picard called out.

"Shields are at 43%. We cannot take another hit like that." Worf reported.

"Injuries reported on all decks." Sakura reported.

"Hull integrity is down to 94%, but holding. No hull breaches reported." Data said.

"Dorsal phasers are offline. Torpedo tubes still functional." Naruto reported.

"Arm Quantum torpedoes and fire." Picard growled.

Naruto worked on arming the torpedoes when Andrew hailed them again.

"This is an outrage! Your ship should be obliterated by that attack!" Andrew bellowed.

"You have committed an act of aggression against the United Federation of Planets! If you and your forces do not withdraw immediately you will be destroyed!" Picard shouted in anger.

"NEVER!" Andrew bellowed.

"Lieutenant... Fire torpedoes." Picard ordered.

"Aye, Captain." Naruto said before he typed the command into his console.

As soon as he did, 4 balls of blue light fired from underneath the ship and hit their target.

"UNCLE ANDROOOOSS!" Oikiny cried out as his ship exploded into a fireball of shattered metal.

There was a silence on the bridge as the flash of light from the exploding ships was snuffed out by the vacuum of space. It all seemed so anti-climactic.

"Um...yay, we won?" Naruto said, summarizing everyone's feelings.

"The other ships are retreating to the surface. The Great Fox is hailing us." Worf announced.

"On screen." Picard ordered. The screen immediately switched to Peppy.

"Good work, Captain. There for a minute, I thought Oikini's assault cannons were going to roast you." Peppy praised.

"We had our doubts as well. Thankfully our ship's upgrades have proven effective. What was this battle all about? This is hardly the welcome we were expecting." Picard said.

"As I have said, we were weeding out the remainder of the forces belonging to a man named Andross. He was a tyrant who nearly conquered the entire system, but thanks to my team and I, we took him down once and for all. What we weren't expecting was for Oikini to show up and rally the remainder of his forces to finish Andross's work."

"I see...well, if we're no longer needed here, we need to go see General Pepper." Picard said.

"Yes, of course. I'll be sure to send word that you have arrived in the system and put in a good word for you fine folks as well. You take care, now." Peppy said.

As soon as the screen turned off, Sakura turned on her combadge to make a personal call. "Sakura to Amanda, is Chiyo alright? Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine. No worries." Amanda reported.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Everything should be fine now. We'll come see Chiyo as soon as we are able."

"Understood. Adams out."

"Well then..." Picard sighed as he straightened his top. "Helm, resume course to Corneria, warp 2."

"Aye, sir." Ro said as she issued the commands.

Right before all of the other ships, they watched the massive Federation ship turn and jump to warp.

"On course to Corneria. ETA, 10 minutes." Ro reported.

"Right then. Uzumaki's, you're dismissed for now." Picard said.

"Thank you, sir." Naruto said as he and Sakura bowed their heads before sitting up and heading out the door.

"Well that was a scare I didn't need." Sakura sighed.

"Tell me about it. I thought I would have to assemble my ANBU for another sabotage mission." Naruto said. It was an unspoken agreement between veteran ninjas such as the two of them that you never wanted to send men out into the field after they had just exhausted themselves with training. Never mind trying to hold their own with a Sannin.

"No kidding. Deck 5." Sakura ordered the computer. "Well...two things we can do. We can go see our daughter, or we can fool around a bit."

Naruto froze up for a bit before realizing that his wife was serious. Then his dumb expressionless face turned into his beloved smirk. "You are such a vixen, you know that?"

"I know...And I'm not sorry..." Sakura smirked as she squirmed around a little.

"You know what's weird? A week ago, I wouldn't hesitate to jump you after you wiggled around like that." Naruto said as he kept his eyes glued to her hips swaying back and forth. "Now I want to do that, but I also want to see our baby girl. I am genuinely torn."

"Think you can do a five-minute quickie?"

"I don't think I'll last that long if you keep moving like that." Naruto said as he grabbed Sakura's waist and yanked her in close. She gave a playful shriek as their lower halves melded together, separated by a few pesky layers of clothing. Their lips smashed together and Naruto teleported them both to their bedroom. Naruto slipped his tongue into Sakura's mouth as he dipped her down. Sakura's arms snaked around his head and pulled his face closer to hers. Naruto then scooped her up, twirled her around and tossed her onto the bed. Sakura giggled like a school girl as she bounced on the bed and settled onto her butt with her elbows propping her up for a show. Naruto waiting for their eyes to meet before he zipped off his Star Fleet uniform to reveal his bare chest to his wife. His muscles were taught and slightly glistening from sweat. Around his naval, Sakura could see his modified Four Point Seal appearing on his skin like a tattoo. That told Sakura that Naruto's chakra was flowing through his system, which was a telling trait of a ninja being aroused.

"Like what you see?" Naruto inquired as his hands linger down to the fly of his pants to tease Sakura with what remain hidden from her view.

Sakura licked her rosy pink lips. "I don't know..." Sakura ran her zipper down her torso, letting her C-cup breasts contained in her tight black sports bra peek out. "Do you?" She asked as she spread her knees apart.

"God yes." Naruto breathed before he attacked Sakura.

Sakura moaned loudly as Naruto attacked her breast like a hungry animal. "Ugh...s-skip the foreplay..."

"Anything for you, my vixen." Naruto breathed into Sakura's neck.

* * *

Nearly 10 minutes on the dot, the ship dropped out of warp and started orbiting what they think is Corneria. The sheer size of the planet was breath taking to say the least. It was nearly twice the size of Earth and over 3 times the size of Element. It was insane on how big it was.

"Beautiful." Picard said to himself. Even after so many years serving Star Fleet, he could still find wonder in the many new worlds he got to see.

"Scanning the planet...astounding..." Data said in simulated awe.

"What've you got, Mr. Data?" Riker asked.

"The planet is inhabited by over a trillion humanoid life signs."

"A trillion?" Riker repeated.

"Yes Commander. That is more than Earth an Element put together."

"My God. Isn't that something?" Riker said.

"Indeed...an impressive planet. One I would very much enjoy getting to see closer." Picard agreed.

"Captain, we are being hailed by the planet." Worf announced.

"On screen." Picard requested.

The next thing they saw was the face of what looked to be an old bloodhound.

"Ahh...you must be Captain Picard...I am General Pepper." The old dog introduced.

"Greetings. It is good to finally make your acquaintance. We had a bit of a rough welcome upon arriving in your system."

"I've heard and I thank you for aiding our fleet...however, I do wish you stayed there a little longer." Pepper said.

"How so?" Picard inquired.

"I will explain once you come down...a tractor barge will guide your ship to the surface."

"Uh...I'm afraid our ship isn't designed to land or enter the gravity well of a planet." Picard said.

Pepper chuckled. "Worry not. I'm aware of Star Fleet's design of ships and we have areas to compensate for the gravitational pull of our planet. Follow the barge and it will guide you to the appropriate area."

"Thank you, Picard out." Picard stated.

"Sir, starship approaching from the surface...the captain requests we power down all non-essential systems." Worf stated.

"Make it so, Mister Worf."

Worf and Data worked on powering down all non-essential systems. Warp drive, running lights, navigational deflector, anything that wasn't life support, thrusters and impulse engines.

Then they felt the ship jolt a little. "Sir, they have locked a tractor beam on us and is gently guiding us to the surface." Worf reported.

"Very good. Be sure to keep our sensor relay scanning the surrounding ships. If this happens to be a trap then I want to know about it beforehand." Picard said.

"Aye sir." Worf said as he stood by at his console.

"We are now entering the stratosphere of the planet." Data reported.

"Let's hope their docking bays are more advanced than their laser beams. Otherwise we may start crashing rather than landing." Riker said.

"Agreed. All hands, Blue Alert." Picard announced over the coms, causing a certain type of alarm to sound with blue flashing lights throughout the ship.

Back in the Adams's living quarters, Naruto looked up in surprise at the blue flashing lights while Sakura cradled their infant daughter in her arms.

"What's that?" Naruto asked. In all his time aboard the Enterprise, he had never seen the lights flash blue.

"I...don't really know. Computer, what is our alert status?" Sakura asked.

"BLUE ALERT HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. LANDING PROCEDURES IN PROGRESS." The computer responded.

"You two don't know about the Blue Alert?" Sally asked as she lay on the floor, kicking her legs out as she watch Sakura hold Chiyo.

"Can't say that we do. Is this a normal thing?" Naruto asked.

"Not really." Jack said. "Blue Alert is used only when the ship is about to land."

"Wait a minute, I thought this ship couldn't land on a planet." Sakura pointed out. She held Chiyo tighter to her chest.

"Normally it can't. The planet we are visiting must have extremely low gravity. Or maybe they have some kind of anti-gravity technology that the United Federation doesn't." Jack suggested.

"Hmm...that would make sense." Naruto nodded.

Sakura relaxed her hold on Chiyo who continued to sleep peacefully in her arms. Just the sight of her breathing was enough to calm Sakura down. Or when she felt her daughter's heart beat against her skin. Just like whenever she felt Naruto's heartbeat.

A few minutes passed and the blue alarm ceased flashing. There was a low rumble along the ship and then silence.

"All hands, this is the captain. We have landed on the planet Corneria and are welcomed to enjoy everything they have. All nonessential personnel may disembark at their leisure."

"That sounds like us." Naruto said before his thoughts inevitably turned back to his daughter. "Do you think they'll let us take Chiyo with us while we stand by Picard when he meets with General Pepper." Then a terrifying thought occurred to Naruto. "Should we even take Chiyo-chan outside of the ship? What about alien germs?"

"I think you're overreacting a bit." Amanda said.

"You don't know." Naruto replied.

Jack just chuckled. "Ah, the joys of being a first-time parent."

"If the Captain is letting everyone disembark, then the atmosphere is safe to breathe." Sakura said, the higher part of her brain knowing that it would be perfectly safe for Chiyo as well. But the worrying parent in her completely agreed with Naruto's point as well.

"Picard to Lieutenant Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki, report to the docking bay at once." Picard spoke over the coms.

"Understood. Um, are we allowed to bring Chiyo? Is it safe?" Naruto asked.

"The environment is safe for her if you wish to bring her. But please keep her quiet." Picard answered.

"Keep a week-old baby quiet?" Amanda blew air out of her nose. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"I don't know. Kurama does a good job with it." Sakura stated.

"Well I do remember her calming down once she was pressed against my chest when I was in Golden Kyuubi Mode. Maybe Kurama's chakra has a calming effect on her." Naruto suggested.

"Well, there ya go." Sakura shrugged as she carefully stood up.

"Alright, then its settled." Naruto said. "I'll grab the diaper bag and meet you by the elevator?"

"Yup. I'll be waiting." Sakura smiled before heading out the door.

"Come on, Sally. Go get ready." Amanda said.

"Alright, mommy." Sally said before she ran back into her room.

A short while later, the Uzumaki's, the Adams and the Haruno's met in the fore docking bay, there they saw out of the windows a long tube attached to the side of the ship.

They also saw outside of the window a very advanced looking civilization with a ton of people walking around.

"Damn...this place is cool..." Naruto said in awe.

"Language..." Sakura and Amanda hissed.

"Oh come on, she can't understand me yet." Naruto said.

"I wouldn't bet on that. Besides, there is one here who does." Sakura pointed out that Sally was within ear shot.

"I've just gotten used to it." Sally admitted.

"Well it doesn't mean you should hear it." Amanda stated.

"Whatever mom, I do what the Hell I want." Sally exclaimed.

Naruto and Jack burst out laughing at the young girls shocking comment.

"Sally! You are one more word away from being grounded young lady!" Amanda scolded.

The adults all chuckled while Sally apologized profusely to her mother.

"Uzumaki! Over here!" Picard shouted at them.

Naruto and Sakura looked around until they say Picard waving for them.

"There is our Captain." Naruto said as he made a beeline for Picard, followed closely behind by Sakura and Chiyo.

"Lieutenants." Picard greeted them.

"Hi, Captain." Sakura smiled

"Hello yourself. You seem to be rather chipper right now." Picard said.

"Well Chiyo here let us sleep for a full 4 hours last night and I finally got a half decent workout when I sparred with Naruto's students. So, I am finally not feeling sluggish." The New Slug Sannin chirped as she bounced her baby.

"All sounds good to me." Picard smiled before he tickled Chiyo's chin gently. Chiyo giggled at her godfather's touch.

"So, what are we doing right now? Meeting with General Pepper or are we just escorting you through a site seeing tour?" Naruto asked.

"I am supposed to be notified when he is ready for our meeting." Picard stated.

"Well then let's see what kind of cute baby clothes they have on this planet." Sakura decided. "My little angel has to look her best if she is going to meet the leader of an entire planet."

"Agreed. I'm eager to see what they have as well." Picard nodded.

"That sounds so cute." April squealed.

"Yay." Naruto, Jack, and Hajime said.

"Well don't you lot just sound full of joy." Sakura pointed out sarcastically.

"So long as we admit I won't find it exciting I will go along with it." Naruto raised his hands up.

"You might, you never know." Sakura shrugged as their group was allowed to proceed through the docking tube.

The group made their way through the tube where they were able to instantly see how the Enterprise was docked. It was suspended in the air by several tractor beams above the water surrounding the city, just high enough for boats to get underneath it to conduct what repairs they could manage.

"It's so weird seeing this ship from the outside." Sakura said in awe.

"Now you know the view I got when I was in the Aceton field." Naruto stated.

"Well I also saw it when we took the shuttle to the Enterprise-E on our wedding day." Sakura reminded him.

"Oh right. Point taken."

"But little Chiyo hasn't." Sakura said as she bounced their baby some more.

"I think the city is a lot more interesting." Hajime said as he pointed to the city skyline.

"Woooah!" Sally exclaimed.

"Holy sh-uh, smokes..." Naruto breathed out in awe.

"Better." Sakura said as she too beheld the city in awe. It was beautiful with massive structures of simple architecture and glass walls.

"Remarkable..." Picard said in awe. The group just took in the view. Months on end spent inside a glorified tin can could make anyone appreciate the view of wide open spaces. They could see the locals ogling their ship in awe, almost like they had never seen a ship like the Enterprise before. Which was true. They could also see flying cars traveling around the city as well as people walking everywhere. But there was one thing that started flying in that they didn't expect to see. Another large ship with 4 wings flying into a docking area near the Enterprise. What they were able to see of it, was a banner painted on it that said Star Fox.

"That must be the Great Fox." Picard mused.

"Incredible that a ship that size can land on the surface of a planet without assistance." Jack said.

"It must have been designed to." Sakura guessed.

"Wow, of only we could design the Enterprise like that." The engineer in Jack said.

"Well, the new Intrepid class and the Defiant class ships are designed to land on surfaces. I'm surprised that they were able to land the Enterprise the way they did." Picard said.

"One of the benefits of cooperation." Hajime said. "They can teach us as much as we can teach them."

"An update to their weapons and shields would definitely be in order." Sakura mused.

"That's for more specialized minds than ours to decide." Naruto said. Knowing from his political training in preparation for becoming Hokage that one nation increasing the strength of new ally rarely went off without a hitch.

"He's right, Sakura." Picard said. "One thing that it states in the Prime Directive is that we cannot share technology in defense and offense."

"Yet I taught Security Officers the ways of the ninja." Naruto pointed out.

"That's different. That's not handing a bunch of cavemen rifles to hunt when they can turn around and use them to take land that's not theirs." Jack said logically.

"Exactly. If we gave them our technology for weapons and shields, they could use that technology against factions or races who do not possess the same technology." Picard stated.

"So, it's a safety thing." Sakura mused.

"More or less. That went into effect during the Federations founding when captain Archer was in command of the first Starship Enterprise." Jack confirmed.

"I would argue that the training Naruto has given April and the others could be used to give Star Fleet a leg up on their enemies as well." Hajime stated. "Think about it. Thanks to them, one ship was able to hold its own against ten Warbirds."

"But the thing is, Starfleet knows that they wouldn't use our skills to wipe out an entire empire. If they were going to do that, they would have enslaved our planet. Kind of what the Romulans... would... do... oh God..." Sakura said before she realized a terrifying thought. "Element is near the Romulan border...what if they trace our powers to Element?"

"I wouldn't worry about that too much." Picard said.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sakura demanded.

"Because the Romulan Commander that wanted to take Naruto hostage in order to experiment on him and learn the secrets of his powers didn't even know that he was an Elementian. They thought he was just another Earthling." Picard said.

"And you don't think their passing ships can detect our planet and its life forms?" Sakura countered.

"If they do, we'll know about it." Picard stated, earning a look from Sakura wanting him to elaborate. "That system is littered with sensor and communication buoy's. If they so much as get within a lightyear to your planet, we'll know about it."

"Nice to know that Starfleet protects its own." Naruto said.

"Indeed, we do." Picard said as they arrived at the security checkpoint at the end of the tube.

"Greetings, and welcome to Corneria. If you have any weapons, please leave them here. They will be processed and categorized and held until your departure." The guard said, who looked like a Husky in a soldier's uniform.

Naruto and Sakura then unstrapped their kunai pouches from around their thighs and handed them over to the Husky. April then followed suit and Picard placed his side arm on the tray. Jack also relinquished his pocket phaser.

"What about those?" The guard asked, pointing to the tricorders that Sakura and Hajime had.

"These are tricorders. Scanners." Hajime said.

"And what are they for?" The guard asked.

"Medical. I'm a doctor and Hajime is my assistant." Sakura informed.

"Very well, proceed." The guard said, letting them pass.

"They are rather trusting." Naruto said as they made their way down the hall.

"Naturally. They want an alliance with us." Jack said.

"That's no reason to not assume the tricorder is a weapon just because we say it isn't." Naruto said.

"They are aware of what some of our technology can and cannot do." Picard said vaguely.

"Alright." Naruto shrugged.

Once they were far enough from the gate, that's when Sakura turned around and saw the Enterprise in all of her glory, still letting off heavy amounts of steam from being in the cold darkness that is space.

"Come on, Sakura-chan. We've already seen the ship." Naruto urged.

"So what? It's still fascinating." Sakura replied.

"Indeed, but we really must be going." Picard said.

"Fine." Sakura said. That's when Chiyo started crying.

Sakura sweat dropped before she started rocking Chiyo. "Shhhh...It's okay Chiyo..." She soothed.

"What's wrong, little angel?" Naruto asked as he stood over the both of them.

"I don't know. I fed her an hour ago. She shouldn't need a nap for a while. What could it be?" Sakura listed off.

"Diaper change, from the sounds of it." Amanda said.

"And the smell..." Sally grimaced.

Sakura lifted Chiyo up to diaper inspecting level and took a great big sniff.

Sakura immediately turned green from the stench. "Ugh...oh yea...definite need of a change..."

"I'll grab the diaper bag." Naruto said before he Thunder God-ed back to their living quarters and returned in 20 seconds with said diaper bag.

"I can't just change her out in the open, you know." Sakura stated.

"Alright." Naruto said as he created a platoon of Shadow Clones to stand shoulder to shoulder to form a barrier around Sakura and Chiyo.

As Sakura started changing Chiyo, Hajime and April were looking out over the city skyline, taking in the view.

"It really is nice here..." April said as she laid her head on her husband's shoulder.

"It really is..." Hajime agreed as he relished the feeling of being so close to his wife. His regrow shoulder muscles still felt stiff, but thanks to Sakura and her amazing medical ninjutsu, he would be back to 100% in a few more days.

"Did you...ever want to have one as well?" April asked.

"A city?" Hajime asked.

"No...a baby." April blushed.

Hajime turned to look at April with surprise on his face. It wasn't that he had never considered having a family with April. He just hadn't been expecting the question as of late.

April looked up at Hajime and saw a smile in his face. "Only if that baby had your red hair."

She smiled brightly. "Really...?"

"Of course. Having a daughter with your long hair would be the cutest thing ever. And a son with your straight red hair would be pretty handsome too I imagine."

"What's wrong with yours?" April asked.

"Nothing. I just really love your hair." Hajime said as he buried his nose atop April's crown.

"Then why don't we have one?" April suggested.

"You don't think it's too early?" Hajime asked.

"No... why would it be? It's not like we're working for money."

"True...I don't know, I guess I just assumed we would both be farther along in our careers before we truly settled down."

"As long as I make Lieutenant, I'm happy. And that can happen anytime now. Plus, you're Sakura's second since you've been learning medical ninjutsu from her. You could hit Commander in a year."

"I... honestly didn't think of that..." Hajime mused as he thought about what the future would bring them. Him...as commander and assistant chief medical officer. A beautiful wife with 2 or 3 beautiful children. It all sounded amazing

"And you would make an awesome father." April smiled.

"You really think so?" Hajime asked.

"I do. I've seen you with Chiyo, you're a natural." April beamed.

"You're no slouch either. You'd make a terrific mother." Hajime smiled.

"You exaggerating. I was always yelling at my younger cousins when they wouldn't behave." April said.

"And that's what a parent should do. I do the same to my cousins and siblings." Hajime said.

"But you're so calm and understanding. I'm so brutish." April said.

"Well, so what? Children need discipline. Without it, they would just be spoiled brats." Hajime said logically.

"I guess. I just really want my own little baby to hold like Sakura and Naruto." April admitted.

"And you'll have it..." Hajime assured with a bright smile.

"Gang way!" A Naruto clone shouted as he ran past the both of them with a nuclear dirty diaper.

"And... we'll get to deal with that." Hajime chuckled.

"Thankfully we will have their powers too."

"True..."

"So... when will I expect to be getting baby clothes?" April giggled.

"Whenever you want..." Hajime said happily.

"R-really...? You mean it...?" April said, misty eyed.

"I do...my little tomato..." Hajime smiled.

"Shuddup, you know I hate when you call me that." April pouted.

 _'In public.'_ Hajime finished in his head.

"Hey you two. What's up? Sakura asked as she came up behind them.

"We're gonna start a family." April beamed.

"Oh...oh boy..." Sakura sighed.

"Well we just finished talking about it." Hajime said.

"Well, at least you're talking about it." Sakura said.

Hajime and April looked at Sakura in confusion.

"What? Something wrong?" Hajime asked.

"No, no. Not at all. Having a child is great if you plan ahead. We made that mistake and we're completely lost most of the time. Amanda is helping us a lot with Taking care of our bundle of joy." Sakura informed as she held onto Chiyo.

"You don't wish you could have planned for Chiyo?" April asked.

"Oh we do. We wished we took our time to get our lives situated first. Hell, we would've waited until we got home before we even got married, never mind a child. but...fate had other planes I guess. Not that we're complaining." Sakura said as she rubbed her nose against Chiyo's playfully.

"Do you think we should wait?" April asked.

"That's for you two to decide. If you feel like you're ready now, then go for it. Just make sure you have all your ducks in a row first." Sakura advised as Chiyo giggled.

"I second that." Jack spoke up while Amanda took Sally to a public restroom.

April turned and looked at Hajime with a look that said "What do you think?".

Hajime thought it over hard for a moment before deciding. "April...I know you want a child...but we're not even 20 yet and we have probably another 100 years left to live. We should just focus on what's in front of us for right now."

April sighed. "Yeah, you're right. We'll talk about it later. For now, let's enjoy our shore leave."

"Lets." Hajime smiled before the two of them walked hand in hand to see more of the city.

Two hours later, after everyone had explored most of the city and Sakura scoring a nice infant set that she just couldn't resist getting, Naruto, Sakura, Riker, Picard, Troi and Worf just entered the meeting chambers where General Pepper himself was sitting at a very long table, looking over paperwork.

"And that should be it..." Pepper said before he looked up at the Starfleet officers. "Ah...Captain Picard and company...please, have a seat. We have much to discuss..."

"Of course. That you for having us, General Pepper." Picard greeted as Sakura and Naruto bowed with Chiyo in Naruto's hands for a change.

"Oh my...IS that, you're pup? She's a cute little thing." General Pepper said with what they assumed was a smile.

"She is, sir. Just a week old." Naruto smiled.

"My my...how adorable..."

"Thank you." Sakura smiled as Chiyo suckled at Naruto's chest to try to get the milk that wasn't there.

"I think she's hungry..." Pepper chuckled.

"Yes, I'm so sorry, is there a private room or a restroom I could use?" Sakura asked, not wanting to take her breast out in front of the leader of the planet.

"Yes..." Pepper said before he summoned one of his aides. "Pricilla, can you show this young lady to the ladies' room?"

"Yes sir." The female golden retriever known as Pricilla said before approaching Sakura. "Please come with me, miss."

"Thank you." Sakura said as she took Chiyo from Naruto's arms. Her heart melted when she saw Chiyo trying to hold on to Naruto's arm before she finally relented.

Pricilla then escorted Sakura and Chiyo out of the room while everyone else sat down.

"Before we begin...I must introduce you to my most trusted team..." Pepper said before the doors behind him opened up to reveal 5 newcomers, one of which Picard recognized. "Allow me to introduce you to the Star Fox team."

They all nodded at the arrival of an orange fox, a green frog, a grey rabbit, a blue falcon and...

 _ **'Woah...she's beautiful...'**_ Kurama thought in awe as he looked through Naruto's eyes at the blue fox woman.

 _'You think so?'_ Naruto thought. He honestly wasn't certain. The fox woman certainly had the curves of a woman, but that face...it was off-putting to the ninja.

 _ **'Kit, you have to summon me. I'm begging you.'**_

 _'We're in the middle of a meeting with General Pepper. I can't just summon you out of nowhere. How will that look?'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'Do you think I care?'**_

 _'I think you have to suck it up for now. I'll summon you after the meeting, but we cannot screw it up now.'_ Naruto offered.

"Allow me to introduce you... Peppy Hare whom you've already met, Falco Lambardi, Slippy Toad, Krystal is the newest member, and the leader, Fox McCloud." Pepper introduced.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Picard nodded.

"Likewise. We greatly appreciate your help. That's a fine ship you have." Fox said.

"Seriously. We could really use that kind of firepower." Falco commented.

"Especially now with the Aparoids." Slippy said.

"I'm sorry, Aparoids?" Picard asked.

"Yes..." Pepper sighed just as Sakura came back with Chiyo. "They are a race of machines who assimilate other machines and people to do their bidding...we encountered them 17 years ago. One Aparoid destroyed an entire fleet of Cornerian ships. We were nearly wiped out from that, but somehow, we survived. But what came after this Aparoid today has us really worried..."

"A cubical shaped ship arrived and identified themselves as-"

"The Borg..." Naruto growled, cutting Peppy off.

"I'm sorry, what are "the Borg?"" Pepper asked.

"Mr. Worf...contact Starfleet and tell them to send everything they have." Picard ordered.

"Yes sir." Worf said before getting up and leaving.

"General...the Borg are very similar to these Aparoids as you described them. They are extremely powerful and will assimilate every race they come across. They take life forms, twist them, and mold them into cyborgs known as drones to assist in assimilating other cultures...if the Borg are here, then not only is your system in grave danger, but the entire quadrant as well." Picard warned.

"Oh dear..." Peppy breathed out in horror.

"So, what's the big deal? We just blast them and the Aparoids and be done with it." Falco said like it was no big deal.

"It's not that simple. The Borg operate on a collective consciousness and have the technology to adapt to any kind of weapon we use against them. Once they adapt, our weapons are useless at that point." Troi informed.

"That explains why I couldn't sense any thought patterns..." Krystal spoke.

"Don't underestimate the Borg. One of their cubes destroyed our last ship, the Enterprise-D." Naruto said gravely.

"Indeed...while the Enterprise E is far more advanced, she still cannot withstand a Borg Cube by herself." Picard confirmed.

Looks of great concern were exchanged among the Cornerians. If the Federations most powerful ship couldn't withstand just one Cube when it could wipe out almost the entirety of Oikini's fleet, they had no chance by themselves.

"Fear not. The United Federation of Planets takes care of its own. We'll stop them before they can assimilate any of your people." Naruto stated.

"Too late, I'm afraid..." Peppy sighed sadly. "They assimilated several Cornerian ships before we could retreat. But as we were doing so, a swarm of Aparoids appeared and started aiding the Borg."

"Captain...I need to know...is there anything we can do to stop these threats?" Pepper asked.

Picard sighed heavily. "As you are now, no."

Then Picard leaned back in his chair. "However, my chief of security has left to contact Starfleet. Once they receive this information, they will send every available ship to this sector. They may even contact some of our allies to aid us to drive them back."

"That's great and all, but what about us? We should be able to do something to help. This is our home and we won't let it go without a fight." Fox said.

Picard sighed again. "The Prime Directive forbids me from giving you any of our offensive and defensive technology."

"What?! Then how are we supposed to defend ourselves?! Are we just supposed to-"

"Be silent, Falco." Pepper ordered, making the latter shrink back into his chair.

"We ask that you trust in us, your allies." Naruto stated with conviction. "No victims of the Borg shall go unanswered."

"There...is a way we may be able to help." Pepper said before he picked up a file in regards to the recent appearance of the Aparoids. "According to Peppy's report, we have received a memory core from a destroyed Aparoid. Its information is limited, but if we can find a complete core, we can find the location of the Aparoid Homeworld and possibly the location of where the Borg may be staging."

"That would be a tremendous help if you can gather that information. My science officers are at your disposal." Picard said, making Sakura look up after hearing that.

"Sorry, what?" Sakura asked.

"Starting now, you and any other science officer I can spare are going to aid the General's science division in locating the Aparoids and the Borg. The survival of all life is counting on you." Picard stated.

"The...survival of all..." Sakura sputtered before she felt her head spinning.

Sensing what was about to happen, Naruto quickly took Chiyo from Sakura's arms before his wife nearly fainted.

"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yea...just...overwhelmed is all..." Sakura said, a little dizzy.

"That's good. For a second there I thought I was dating Hinata again." Naruto joked.

"No... I'm good." Sakura said before she flicked him on the nose. "Don't ever compare me to Hinata again."

"What if I said you were more beautiful than her?" Naruto asked.

"Well...I can't tell you..." She said before leaning to whisper into his ear. "In public..."

"I greatly appreciate the help, Captain...our research facility is in orbit above Corneria." Pepper said before he grabbed what looked like a PAD. He used a stylus to scribble down something on the PAD before handing it off to his aid to give to Picard. "From this moment on...Corneria and its surrounding populated planets...are now in full cooperation with the United Federation of Planets and her allies."

Picard looked at the document on the PAD and smiled. "Welcome to the United Federation of Planets, General."

Everyone in the room began clapping, including Sakura and Naruto as best as he could. For the first time, the two veteran ANBU finally got to see a successful alliance treaty signed. Even though the fate of the galaxy was at stake.

* * *

Sometime later, a large reception was waiting in the forward lounge of the Enterprise where General Pepper, his aids, the Star Fox Team and many other welcomed guests were in attendance. They were allowed to roam the ship freely into certain areas, getting a good look at technology that was either similar to theirs, or better.

The Star Fox Team split up and went their own ways to view the ship. Slippy was getting a wonderful tour of main engineering.

"This is amazing! I've never seen such a propulsion system before." Slippy beamed.

"Well, that's over 200 years of development and improvement for you." Geordi said proudly. "Our Mk. 10 Antimatter Intermix Chamber or warp core, can take old and warn out dilithium crystals and regenerate them for continued use for up to 20 years if we need them to."

"This ship uses antimatter?" Slippy stammered in shock. "But that stuff is really unstable!"

"We take every safety precaution needed to make sure we don't have it blowing up in our faces. And in the event of a core breach, we have an ejection system that will dump the core out into space and keeping the ship from blowing up." Geordi said.

"But then what do you use for propulsion afterwards?"

"We have sublight impulse engines that run off a much more refined method of cold fusion. The hull of the ship acts like a huge solar panel, collecting even the most minute amount of solar radiation and converts that to reserve energy that gets stored into several battery cells. That energy gets used to power the impulse engines when the core is either offline or ejected."

"Awesome..." Slippy said in awe.

Meanwhile, Sakura and Crusher were showing Krystal the medical bay and how their medical technology had improved over the centuries.

"And using this tricorder for its most basic functions, we can get an immediate reading on a patient's vital life stats including heartrate, blood pressure, body temperature, and even their rate of breathing." Sakura explained.

"Amazing. This is a lot different than what we use." Krystal said in awe.

"Yes. Everything we have aboard the Enterprise is state of the art. Best of the best." Sakura declared.

"I see...I hope we have medical technology like this someday."

"Well, that is something that Starfleet can share." Crusher stated.

"Wonderful! The medical corps will be very pleased." Krystal smiled.

"Yes, this is usually the most welcome gift that the Federation bestows upon those planets that join their ranks." Crusher smiled.

"And I'm sure I speak for everyone how pleased we will be with this gift. Thank you so much."

They heard the doors open just then. They turned to see Naruto coming in with a rather upset Chiyo.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Sakura-chan, but I think Chiyo needs to be fed. I've tried everything else." Naruto said automatically.

"No, it's not that." Krystal said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"She's not hungry. She wants something else."

"How do you know?" Sakura asked.

"I'm telepathic. I can read her mind. She wants...Kurama. Who's that?" Krystal asked.

"Oh that." Naruto said before he burst into golden flames. Krystal nearly screamed when the alien spontaneously combusted in front of her, but her fears were quickly alleviated when the man reappeared before her dressed in a shining golden jacket and holding his unharmed daughter.

Chiyo instantly calmed down once she felt the familiar warm chakra lulling her to sleep.

"What...What is that...? I sense so much energy and... two consciousnesses?" Krystal asked in astonishment.

"Long story. Promise you won't freak out?" Naruto asked. Knowing that if the fox woman called him a monster of any kind than Sakura would bean her over the head and cause a galactic incident.

"I-I'm okay...It feels...Warm and comforting. Can all humans do this?"

"No. Not exactly. I'd say I am one of two humans left who can do this. And no one else does it like I do it." Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" Krystal asked.

"I'm sorry I have no idea how to explain this simply. Can you imagine a sentient being of pure energy?" Naruto inquired.

"You mean like a spirit? If so, yes. I was in tune with spirits before." Krystal said, now seemingly more understanding. But in reality, she had read Naruto's mind and learned what this really was.

"Well yeah. I had one of these spirits sealed inside me and through training and mutual understanding I can call upon his power whenever I need it."

"I see. That doesn't sound all that different from Krazoa Spirits."

"And what are those?"

"What kind of spirits?" Sakura asked.

"Krazoa Spirits. They are said to be the life essences of the Krazoa God who created this system. His shrines are everywhere on Sauria." Krystal stated.

"So... like ghosts?" Naruto said nervously.

"Not exactly. Krazoa Spirits are wisps of pure energy. But the spirits around you and your family are another story." Krystal pointed out.

"Yeah, we know about...wait, you can sense them?" Naruto asked.

"I can commune with them." Krystal smiled.

"Commune? Um..."

"It means she can talk to them." Sakura clarified.

"Yes. I can talk to them." Krystal confirmed.

"Y-you mean...you can..." Naruto sputtered in awe. The last time he talked to any of them was before and during the 4th war.

"What do they have to say?" Sakura asked.

"Let's see...two of them say they are his parents and the other has...oh my..." Krystal blushed. "T-the third is...rather perverse..."

"Yeah...that's Jiraiya alright..." Sakura sighed.

"I... take it he's normally like that. Okay..." Krystal closed her eyes in concentration. "The blond man...Minato...he says he's very proud of the man you've become. He says the two of you have made the most beautiful granddaughter he could ever imagine."

Now both Sakura and Naruto were completely stunned. Naruto had expected as much, but Sakura. That was extremely high praise.

"My dad...really said that...?" Naruto asked.

"He did. Your mother... Kushina...oh dear... She's um...a little miffed that you got a woman pregnant before marriage." Krystal informed.

"Um...that was...kinda my fault." Sakura said sheepishly.

"Even still, it was his fault for being so reckless and for not dumping that weird girl and pursuing you sooner. She says." Krystal said.

"Okay, we don't need to go into that." Naruto said, annoyed that his mother would have to bring that up.

"No, we don't." Sakura agreed.

"Oh...And you should've known better than to even give that brat of an Uchiha a chance. Kushina says." Krystal relayed.

"Well you tell her I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't certain that Naruto would be taken care of by Hinata." Sakura said annoyed. "Plus, Naruto vouched for him.

"And? That's no excuse. I'm personally upset with the way you've treated my son in the past." Krystal relayed, making Sakura look down at her feet in guilt. "And... Now she and Minato are arguing."

"This is not how I ever expected meeting my in-laws." Sakura sighed.

"How did you expect to meet them? By visiting their graves?" Naruto asked. "Wow that came out wrong."

"Knowing you... I expected us to meet them through time travel or someone using the resurrection jutsu." Sakura said.

"Yeah, I can see that." Naruto shrugged.

 _ **'She did meet your father during the war.'**_ Kurama pointed out.

 _'Well she's never met my mom.'_ Naruto pointed out.

 _ **'True. She can be intense as you found out.'**_

 _'Well it's not like she can hit me as a ghost. I get enough of that through my wife.'_

 _ **'Personally, I don't think you get enough.'**_ Kurama smirked.

 _'Shut up.'_

"I'm sorry, what was that about a resurrection jutsu?" Crusher asked.

"You don't want to know." Sakura said firmly. "And no, you can't use it to bring back your husband. It's not worth it."

"I think I'd like to be the judge of that myself." Crusher replied.

"No. We don't know it and you have to sacrifice other lives for it to work and even then, the dead are just in husks of their former selves." Naruto stated seriously.

"Immortal puppets made of ash, good for little more than weapons."

"Minato said that only happened because the jutsu wasn't complete." Krystal said. "If done properly, they can come back as actual living people."

"Even still, we aren't trading one life for another." Naruto said firmly.

"And what about me? What about my son?" Crusher demanded.

"I'm afraid you both will have to accept your husband's passing and move on. Just like every other family that grieves." Naruto stated with absolute authority.

"I agree." Krystal said. "I lost my entire planet...my family...my people...but I know and accept the fact that they are gone for good. It's not worth trading lives to get back what you've lost."

 _ **'She...did...?'**_ Kurama asked, feeling sad for Krystal.

 _'You like her, don't you?'_ Naruto smirked.

"I see..." Crusher said bitterly. "Excuse me." She said before she headed out the door.

Kurama blushed. _**'S-shut up! No, I don't!'**_

 _'Oh my god, you totally do! Now it makes sense why you wanted me to summon you.'_

 _ **'Hey! Everyone else gets to hook up. Why can't I?'**_ Kurama argued.

"I'm going to take my leave. The reception should be starting soon." Krystal said before turning to walk out of the door.

"Oh wait." Kystal said before she reached the door. "The one called Jiraiya is proud of you both for taking the step he and Tsunade never could in life. He is also proud that you managed to complete Tsunade's work of linking the two planets of humans."

"He...really said that?" Sakura said in awe.

"He did. He is proud of the both of you. Naruto for being his godson and you for being his goddaughter-in-law." Krystal nodded.

Sakura was completely speechless. That was the last thing she expected to hear from a well-known pervert.

Krystal took that as her que to leave them and proceeded out of the door.

Chiyo then tried to squirm out of Naruto's arms like she was trying to reach for another person neither parent could see.

"What is she doing?" Sakura asked.

"If I had to guess. She's trying to get into either my mom or my dad's arms." Naruto replied.

Sakura felt like crying as she saw Chiyo desperately trying to grab at whatever she was seeing and was getting fussy when she couldn't. "I'm sorry honey...But they can't hold you..."

Chiyo started crying when she couldn't get her way. Naruto turned up his emission of Kurama's chakra just to calm her down.

"Oh honey...I'm sorry..." Sakura whimpered as she hugged both her daughter and Naruto.

Chiyo didn't seem to calm down in the slightest. Naruto and Sakura did all they could before she instantly stopped crying.

"She...stopped?" Sakura asked in mild surprise.

"You think mom and dad are hugging her?" Naruto asked.

 _ **'They are. I can sense it.'**_ Kurama said.

"They are." Naruto said, making Sakura relax into the hug even more.

The three generations of Uzumaki family all stood silent enjoying their moment for a few minutes while a few feet away, Jiraiya had taken out his pen and was writing down this beautifully clique ending that he wanted to use for one of his own stories.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Crusher's living quarters, the medical officer was pouring herself a glass of Sythenol while a framed picture of her husband looked at her from the night stand.

"Jack..." Beverly said softly.

"I want to bring you back...If I could I would...For both me and Wesley..." She spoke as she downed her imitation whiskey.

"Picard to Dr. Crusher." She heard the coms come to life.

"...Go ahead..." Crusher sighed.

"We're about to start the reception. Would you care to join me?" Picard asked.

Crusher cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm on my way. Crusher out."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the new and improved crew lounge, meals unlike anything the Cornerians have seen were being placed out on the tables around them. Food from all corners of Federation space.

"Quite the intricate spread you have, Captain." Pepper praised.

"Thank you, General. It's all thanks to our replicators that can produce an enormous imagination of food. Almost instantly. One of the many gifts that Starfleet will be gifting to your people should you wish it."

"Thank you, but we already have food dispensaries." Pepper said.

"Well then our replicator specialists can offer you the recipes for our dishes. We will of course be adding your recipes to our database."

"By all means." Pepper said as he dished himself some kind of wrap. "What is this?"

"Oh, I would be careful with that dish. It is very spicy." Picard warned.

"I love spicy." Pepper said as he took two Hasaprat wraps.

"I hope so." Picard said just as Pepper took a bite of one and started to sweat.

"Sweet marmalade! You weren't kidding..." Pepper wheezed.

"Yes. Kind of a running joke on this ship. As my Head of the Medical Division's second can attest to." Picard chuckled.

"Hoo...What is this dish called? It has surely perked up this old dog." Pepper inquired.

"Hasaprat. A Bajoran dish." Picard explained.

"A wonderful dish." Pepper said before he took another bite.

"What's this here?" Falco asked as he went to take a slice of dark colored pie.

"Ro'Kegh blood pie. A warrior's dish." Worf said proudly.

"I... think I'll pass on that." Falco sweat dropped before he put the pie server down.

"Wise and understandable. Only true warriors who crave the thrill of the hunt can truly appreciate it." Worf stated.

"What was that?" Naruto asked as he looked up with his cheeks full of blood pie.

"You like that?" Falco asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, it's good. Try it." Naruto said as Sakura looked at him in disgust.

"You know that's the Klingon blood pie, right?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't taste any worse than that deer we both ate on that ANBU stake-out." Naruto shrugged.

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it..." Sakura said.

"Oh, come on, one bite." Naruto smirked as he held up a fork full right up to Sakura's lips.

"No way." Sakura rejected.

"I promise you'll like it."

Sakura groaned, rolling her eyes. "If it'll get you to shut up. It better not be like Gahkt." She said before she took a bite. Sakura instantly recalled herself and Naruto being hunted by an evil lord and his minions out in the forest. The two of them had to scavenge like wild animals for three days before their target finally gave up. During that time, Naruto had brought back a whole deer and killed it like a wolf would in order to not raise suspicion. They picked apart the raw meat and ate it together. During that whole time, Sakura couldn't shake the comparison to a male wolf bringing back dinner for his mate. Something she felt especially guilty about at the time, but now she would have loved nothing more than to experience some alone time like that. Plus, the commission paid handsomely. All in all, it was a good mission.

"I take back what I said. This is good." Sakura admitted.

"See? I told you." Naruto grinned.

"It's salty, but it's not bad."

"As if I would ever steer you wrong."

"Oh? What about the bear liver?" Sakura pointed out. "The one that made me sick for a week straight?"

"That was a fluke."

"It was green and you made me eat it." Sakura deadpanned.

"Are you two...Always like this?" Falco asked.

"Not always...but often." Sakura responded.

 _ **'Kit...You gonna let me join the party or what?'**_ Kurama pressed.

 _'Alright sure, you've been patient enough.'_ Naruto thought.

 _ **'Then get with it, Kit.'**_

"Attention, animal people!" Naruto called out.

Sakura smacked him upside the head. "Cornerians!" She hissed, not wanting to offend their new allies.

"Cornerians! My apologies. We have one more crew member for you to meet!" Naruto declared before he lifted up his uniform to reveal his six pack to everyone in the room. Troi, Crusher, and Krystal blushed before they noticed the seal tattooed around Naruto's naval, which he then cupped with his right hand and gave a twist like he was turning a key. He then slammed his palm down upon the floor, making smoke explode outward.

The smoke cleared and revealed a fox with blood orange fur, front paws like the hands of a human, rabbit ears, and nine beautiful swishing tails.

"It can't be..." Pepper breathed on in shock.

 _ **'Oh...this can't be good.'**_ Kurama thought before the Cornerians started bowing one by one.

"The great Nine Tails...welcome back, my lord." Pepper greeted.

"Wait...what?" Kurama said in bewilderment.

"Our Lord and savior. Thank you for returning to us." Peppy said sincerely.

"Wait, what?" Riker asked as the rest of the Enterprise crew looked on in astonishment.

 **"Um...you're welcome?"** Kurama asked, not used to people bowing towards him.

"Sakura-chan. What are they doing?" Naruto whispered.

"If I had to make a guess...they think he is their god." Sakura whispered back.

"For reals? That's crazy."

 _ **'Their god? Oh I don't think so.'**_ Kurama thought to Naruto, having heard their conversation.

 _'Look...just try not to start a crusade for now.'_ Naruto thought before he jogged over to Picard. "What the Hell do we do now?"

"I'm not sure...this was really unprecedented." Picard answered.

"What is the protocol for this?" Naruto asked, thinking that with all the worlds that Star Fleet visits, there might be some procedure to being mistaken for a God.

"I'll handle it." Picard said before walking over to Pepper.

"Captain...I really must thank you for bringing back our savior." Pepper said.

"General...I'm afraid you are mistaken." Picard sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"Kurama isn't who you think he is. He is not a god of this system. He is by all accounts and purposes, a demon that was sealed inside Naruto on his home planet. I'm not sure what your god looks like and Kurama may look similar, but he's actually native to the planet Element." Picard explained.

"Impossible. He looks exactly as our holy texts describe him." General Pepper exclaimed.

"I can assure you, he is not who you think he is. Him, along with 8 other tiled beasts as they are called are native to Element."

"Are you saying that he isn't the healer and the destroyer? Whose tails could cause earthquakes and gale storms with a single flick? Who mouth could spew forth divine flames that would destroy the unrighteous? That he cannot grow to be as tall as the sky or shrink down to the size of a grain of rice?" Krystal asked.

"Well...he can, but..."

"So, then he is our God. Immortal and undying." Krystal said in awe.

 **"I am a manifestation of Chakra created long ago by the sages of Element. I've never even been to this system."** Kurama informed.

"Impossible. This cannot be a coincidence." McCloud said.

 **"I assure you it is. I have never even left Element until about a year ago."** Kurama insisted.

"Is there no one else like you?" Pepper asked.

 **"If by that you mean my brothers and sister, then yes. However, their origins are the same as mine."**

"There are more like you? More gods on another planet?" Slippy asked.

 **"First off, we're not gods. We're manifestations of Chakra or energy. Secondly, yes. There is my brother Shukaku the one tailed Sand Racoon, my sister Matatabi the Two Tailed cat of fire, Isobu the Three Tailed Turtle, Son Goku the Four Tailed Monkey, Kokuo the Five Tailed Horse, Saiken the Six Tailed Slug, Chomei the Seven Tailed Beetle and Gyuki the Eight Tailed Octopus."**

"But our religious texts tell us that you were born of energy." Pepper said.

 **"Believe me...I'm far from the God you think I am."** Kurama insisted.

"Please, allow us to take you with us to our temple. Our head priest will determine if you truly are our savior." Krystal insisted.

Kurama looked at all of the Cornerians and could tell they were serious. But the one thing that got him was the pleading look in Krystal's eyes. For some reason, he just couldn't resist them.

 **"I mean...I suppose it couldn't hurt..."**

"Perfect. Krystal, would you be so kind as to take him to the temple?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, General." She said before offering her hand to Kurama.

Kurama blushed underneath his fur and took Krystal's hand with one of his tails.

"Well...this just got weird." Sakura said as she watched Kurama and Krystal leave the reception.

"Definitely a change of pace." Naruto said as he took another bite of blood pie.

"Kinda reminds me of when people found out that you're the reincarnation of Asura." Sakura smirked.

"Oh, don't remind me." Naruto groaned. All those mornings he woke up to find followers and priests of the Sage of Six Paths lining up outside his apartment to hear from him the good word. Woman twice his age wanted to have his baby and he even got formal letters from Shion, that one woman from the all kunoichi village, and a few others.

"Yeah, really...can't tell you how many times I had people knocking my door down looking for Sasuke." Sakura groaned when she remembered that part.

"Trust me. Hinata has stories of her own." Naruto chuckled.

"I can imagine."

"Well...now let's finish getting this underway." Picard said as everyone took their seats.

"I thank you all for coming." Picard opened. "This day...marks a new day in our calendars. The Federation and the majority of the Lylat system are now allies and mutual friends. friends that we hope will be with us for generations to come. I will now have General Pepper come up and say a few words."

While that was taking place, Kurama and Krystal were walking around the ship towards the docking tube.

Kurama lingered behind Krystal, if only so that he could check her out. **"So... ah...you doing anything later?"**

"As far as I know, just returning to the reception. Unless of course you need me for something." Krystal said.

 **"Well I don't need you, but I would like to see you again. Maybe over dinner?"** Kurama asked.

Krystal paused, hearing what she clearly thought was an offer for a date. Searching his mind, she confirmed that. "You mean...a date?"

Kurama gulped, never thinking he would ever be in this position. **"I do."**

"Well...I am seeing Fox at the moment." Krystal responded.

Kurama felt his heart breaking. **"Oh..."**

"Not to mention...you'll live a lot longer than I will. You're immortal, to a point."

 **"Yes, but... I don't know. I've lived for a thousand years. Much of it was spent doing the same things century after century. And in all that time, I've only ever been really happy in the last five years or so. With Kit."** Kurama admitted.

"I know. I read your mind and Naruto's." Krystal said softly.

 **"Yeah...and seeing Kit and his Vixen with Little Kit...It made me wonder what it would be like to have a Vixen of my own."** Kurama continued on.

"I understand..." Krystal said before thinking about it. "Well...Fox and I are not really seeing each other. I know how he feels about me, but he hasn't made a move yet. And honestly, I don't know if he will."

 **"Well then maybe you should make the first move instead."** Kurama suggested.

"It doesn't work like that in our culture. The male is supposed to make the first move."

 **"Well then your culture is stupid. Back on my planet, males and females are equal. Kind of. Equal enough that the girl can be upfront about her feelings."**

"Sometimes...I can agree with you." Krystal sighed.

 **"Look, if you've got a thing for him, then I don't want to step into the middle of it. Not until you've got your feelings sorted out. But from where I'm standing, he'd be a damn fool not to want to date you. Hell, he's probably intimidated by your beauty and screwing up his friendship with you."** Kurama smiled.

"He saved my life a year ago. So, I owe him a great deal." Krystal said. "But you're right. He is quite shy, but I wouldn't say our friendship is in jeopardy." She smiled.

 **"He might see it that way. I know Kit did, not long ago."** Kurama said.

"You mean, they weren't always together?"

 **"You read Kit's mind, didn't you?"**

"Only a certain part of it."

 **"Well it's more complicated than I'm willing to get into. I don't think I understand it myself. But if you ask me he chose right in the end. At the very least he chose the more interesting vixen."**

"She seems...kinda brutish to me." Krystal admitted.

 **"Yeah, but she has her sweet side. Which actually makes it more special when you don't see it all the time."** Kurama smiled.

"I see. I take it you're quite attached to her as well."

 **"One side effect of being sealed inside Kit for his entire life is that I can feel all his emotions. So yeah, I'd say I've become attached to her just as he has."** Kurama mused.

"I see. Well that's nice." Krystal smiled.

 **"You don't think it's weird, do you?"**

"Well, giving the circumstances, I think it's perfectly fine. So how long have they been together?"

"That's where things may seem weird. They've been together for less than a year."

Krystal blinked. "And they have a child already?"

 **"Yeah...they've been friends since they were twelve years old though. Plus, they've been through so much that it's not too shocking that they got serious so quickly."** Kurama mused as they reached the city streets.

"Oh...okay, that's less weird."

 **"Yes, and even if they hadn't, something about them just works. His goofiness counters her seriousness. He benefits from her and she benefits from him."**

Krystal smiled. "Sounds like a match made in heaven."

 **"That's exactly it."** Kurama said as the Cornerian citizens began to notice the large nine tailed fox walking their streets.

"It's him..."

"The savior has returned!"

"The Great Nine Tails! He has come to bring peace!"

Everyone who he walked passed was saying that and other things in praise. Kurama just groaned.

"You know, I'd imagine that most people might enjoy being treated like a god." Krystal whispered to him.

 **"I'll admit...it's a far cry from being ostracized or used as a weapon."** Kurama admitted.

"Of Great Nine Tails, please, bestow upon us mortals your wisdom!" One rabbit man begged.

 **"Keep your kids in school and don't do drugs."** Kurama said.

"So we should reject medicine from our doctors?!" A dog lady spoke up, grateful to be proven right over all her pro-vaccination friends.

 **"No, drugs given to you by doctors are okay!"** Kurama clarified.

"What about my son?" A parrot man spoke up. "Can't he continued to be homeschooled?"

 **"Um, so long as he gets a good education, I guess."** Kurama decreed.

"My daddy is sick...can you help him?" A little cat girl asked, nearly on the verge of tears.

 **"Um...what's wrong with your daddy?"** Kurama asked nervously, thinking he was getting in too deep.

"He has cancer...mommy says he's gonna go away soon...I don't want him to go..."

 **"Oooo..."** Kurama hissed. He thought about using his chakra, but that was used mostly to speed up cell growth, which would actually make the cancer worse. **"You know what you should do? You should take him to the Star Fleet ship the Enterprise. I brought them with me along with their advanced medical technology. If they can't cure your father than no one can."**

The cat girl quickly perked up. "You really think so?"

Kurama saw her cute little pink furry face light up with genuine hope. In a lot of ways, this girl reminded him of Chiyo and Sally.

 **"I know so. Now run along and tell your mother to bring your father to the Enterprise. Tell the Security Officers that Chief Kurama authorized it."** Kurama said before he rubbed the top of the little girl's head with one of his tails.

"Thank you!" She cheered before hugging Kurama.

The crowd cheered at their messiah saving a father's life.

 _'I heard that. I'll send word to Sakura-chan and Dr. Crusher.'_ Naruto thought to him.

 _ **'And security?'**_

 _'Well I am security so.'_

 _ **'Right.'**_ Kurama said before the little girl scurried off.

"Let's keep moving." Krystal smiled.

A short while later on the Enterprise, Naruto was escorting a cat woman pushing a cat man in a wheelchair through the hallways of the ship while the same little cat girl followed closely behind.

"So, you must be the brave little girl that Kurama talked about." Naruto said as they made their way past a group of engineers doing a routine inspection on the hallways.

"Yes, mister. Can you really help my daddy?" She asked.

"I can't. But my wife and her boss sure can. Believe it." Naruto smiled as they entered the turbolift.

"Okay."

"Thank you all for doing this. I really hope your medical staff can help. We've tried everything and doctors can't operate on him." The mother said.

"Well I wouldn't expect a miracle, but if anyone can cure your husband, it's the medical staff aboard the Enterprise." Naruto stated as the doors opened to the sickbay, which had cleaned up nicely since the attack a week ago.

"Welcome. Can you stand on your own?" Sakura asked as Dr. Crusher and several nurses were prepping an examination table.

"Yes, I think so..." The cat man said as he forced himself out of his chair and sat down on the examination table with the help of Naruto and his wife.

"What kind of cancer do you have?" Sakura asked.

"Um...Liver and pancreatic..." He said weakly.

"He's got two types of cancer?" Naruto asked.

"Yes..." The wife choked out.

"Hmm...Difficult, but not impossible." Sakura mused before turning to Crusher. "What do you think?"

"How far along?" Crusher asked.

"Advanced stages...Doctors say he's terminal..." The wife said, her voice threatening to break.

"Hmm...Well we'll run some tests first. But rest assured. In the Federation, disease and illness doesn't exist." Crusher assured.

Sakura took out her trusty tricord and began scanning the cat man's upper abdomen.

"Yup. Advanced stages of pancreatic cancer and a large malignant tumor on the second section of the liver." Sakura confirmed.

"I see. So, then it should take us one hour to completely heal the liver and two hours to replace the pancreas." Crusher listed off casually.

"Wait, that's it?" The man asked in astonishment.

"That's it. We should have you walking out the door on your own two feet an hour after that. So, four hours." Sakura said as she typed some commands into her computer, an obvious smile on her face as she could feel the little girl's smile radiating off her face.

Crusher meanwhile took out a cotton swab. "I'm going to need a sample of your DNA to recreate your organ. Open your mouth, please."

"Wait...Recreate my...You can do that? The medical corps only just started researching that..." The man said in awe.

"Well we are more advanced in medical technology. This knowledge will be passed on to your species in the coming days once the rest of Star Fleet arrives." Crusher said.

"Astounding...Very well. Proceed Doctor." The man smiled as he relaxed on the bench. Finally, results.

"Does this mean that my daddy doesn't have to go away?" The little cat girl asked excitedly.

"Yes, it does. Your daddy will be as healthy as a horse." Sakura smiled.

"Thank you!" The girl cried as she ran up to hug Sakura's legs.

"Oh, thank the Nine Tails..." The wife said in much needed relief.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Special thanks to bradw316 for beta reading this chapter. For once you've sat on something for so long and done so many critiques, you can't help but only see the flaws. So thanks to Brad who helped us get this darn chapter out already. Please leave a review if you know how we can improve this chapter and perhaps inspire us on chapters to write in the future.**


	22. Chapter 22: Fake Out

**Author's Note from Panda: We're back, baby!**

 **This was originally going to be one chapter, but it was around 33k words long, so we split it in two. Which means that the other half has been written and needs to be edited. So expect chapter 23 in…let's call it a week.**

 **For those of you who were hoping for more Star Fox stuff, I'm sorry guys, it just wasn't clicking. Not like this chapter. Perhaps we will revisit Cornia one day. Leave us a review or send us a PM if you think we should. Or to tell us about this chapter. Or just what your favorite color is. Mine is red.**

 **Now sit back, relax, and enjoy.**

* * *

A week had passed since the Enterprise had left Corneria. Things were bittersweet when Kurama had to leave behind Krystal, but a few days of sulking in Naruto's belly had him back to his old self. A fleet of Federation Destroyers had moved in to help Star Fox wipe out the Borg and everything was peachy keen as far as Naruto knew.

Currently he found himself and Chiyo in Hajime and April's quarters. Sakura was back on duty with Crusher and Naruto had decided that he and his daughter could abuse his distant cousin's hospitality for a change of scenery.

Carefully, he observing his youngest daughter sleeping on a blanket in the middle of the living room.

It wasn't often that he found himself in this setting. Chiyo was still barely a week old, yet time was always fickle thing on the Enterprise. Free time was hard to come by, and when it did it brought everything to a screeching halt. Allowing one's self to collect their thoughts.

Raising a child was no different. Naruto had spent so much time feeding her, changing her, bathing her, and calming her down that when he finally did get her to sleep he could appreciate just how adorable she was and how absolutely in love he was with her.

From her little limbs to her pudgy belly. She wore a pink pair of feetie pajamas with a cartoon cat on the chest. On her head was a little tuff of pink hair that Naruto couldn't help but twirl his finger around. It was just so soft. Untouched by years of sunlight, wind, or anything else. And her chubby cheeks. Naruto's eyes always had to drift down to them. Her skin was completely smooth except for those six whisker marks. The spitting image of his own whisker marks.

All his life he had lived as the sole owner of such birth marks. Sure, they had more to do with Kurama's chakra than any genetics, but to see them on another human being. It was like a flag declaring Chiyo as Naruto's kin. More than his mother's clan's red hair, which he did not share. Or his father's facial features, that he did not inherit, save for his eyes. Now just like Sakura and all her pink haired family members, or any of his friends are their clansmen. Naruto had a true family member that looked like him. His secret lifelong dream was achieved.

"Seriously, Naruto. She is the most well-behaved child I've ever met." Hajime said.

"That's because she is asleep." Naruto said with a smile. "You give her any cause and her little lungs will wake the dead."

"I hear that. I've heard her scream when she was born." April said.

"It's crazy that we haven't visited you yet. I'm sorry." Naruto said as he watched Chiyo kick at nothing, just testing out her legs.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine. We've been really busy anyway." Hajime waved off.

"You know nothing against you, April, but I was just thinking about how I finally feel like I have a family member who looks like me." Naruto said.

"No offense taken. It's a miracle that we're even related." April waved off.

"True. It's just a funny feeling after growing up an orphan to have a family." Naruto said as he ran his finger along Chiyo's whisker marks.

"I don't know what that's like and I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's alright. I have you guys. And I have Sakura-chan. And Chiyo-chan. And all my friends on the Enterprise and back home on Element."

"Speaking of Sakura, where is she?" Hajime asked.

"Working in sick bay. She has a lot of catching up to do." Naruto said.

"Oh yeah. I had to pick up a lot of her slack." Hajime said.

"Well after 6 months on maternity leave she is back and ready to give 130%." Naruto praised.

"I saw yesterday. She's back in the saddle, as it were."

"You should have seen her this morning. Up with Chiyo and already making us both coffee." Naruto smiled.

"Impressive."

"She did almost feed Chiyo some coffee in a bottle. But we were able to come to our senses before that." Naruto admitted.

"Yikes...well that's good at least." Hajime sweat dropped.

"It was worth a laugh." Naruto said as Chiyo started to fuss herself awake.

"Uh-oh." April gulped.

"Oh boy." Naruto sighed. "Good morning, princess." He cooed.

"Agh, agh!" Chiyo cried.

"Aww, what's the matter?" Naruto asked in a baby voice he had seen Sakura use on Chiyo to middling effect. Suddenly, the ship shook violently, causing the auto red alert to sound.

"WHAAAAA!" Chiyo cried as Naruto scooped her up in her blanket.

Naruto tapped his combadge. "Naruto to bridge, what's going on?!"

"We're caught in a temporal anomaly, Naruto. I need you and your wife on the bridge immediately." Picard informed.

"Sakura is with Crusher. I'm with Chiyo." Naruto informed.

"Do you have anyone to watch her?" Picard asked.

"Captain, we're losing structural integrity on deck 19." Worf reported.

"Increase shields in that area." Picard said as a huge thud shook the vessel. Knocking Naruto off his feet and forcing him to twist in midair to avoid landing on Chiyo.

"All engines are offline. Attempting to bypass." Geordi reported.

"Inertial dampers are failing. Initiating manual override." Data reported.

"Stay where you are, Naruto!" Picard ordered just as the screen switched to a vortex to a planet in a split second. "Dear God..."

"Initiating lateral thrusters. attempting to level our descent." Data informed.

"We're going in too hot!" Ro reported.

"Suggestions! Quick!" Picard ordered.

"I'm going to initiate a reverse polarity tractor beam! It should slow us down to find somewhere safe to impact!" Geordi suggested.

"Do it quick!"

"Injuries reported all over the ship! Hull breach on deck 2! Starboard nacelle pylon fracturing!" Riker reported.

"Repulse tractor beam engaged! We're slowing down!" Geordi announced.

"Trajectory leveled out. I am detecting a large body of water dead ahead." Data spoke.

"Aim for the water!" Picard ordered before keying up the ship wide coms. "All hands! Brace for impact!"

Back with Naruto inside the Haruno living quarters, Hajime and April were both bracing for impact. Naruto, who was bracing himself and Chiyo near the window, caught a glimpse of a sight he hadn't seen in ages. One he would never forget. A cliff hundreds of feet high with huge carvings of familiar faces. He could just barely make out four of them, but their shapes told him all he needed to know.

"It's Konoha." He gasped, Chiyo still held tightly against his chest. Another jolt sent him flying to the ground. The Enterprise was skimming against a sea of treetops.

On the bridge, everyone was being shaken violently before lurching hard when the ship collided with the nearby body of water, the starboard nacelle pylon giving out and the whole pylon plus the nacelle falling off the ship and into the water. The lights flickered several times for a few moments before staying lit. Consoles all over the ship shorting out and sparking as the ship came to a complete halt.

* * *

Back inside of the Haruno quarters, Chiyo's cries could be heard through the walls with the adults inside groaning.

"That sucked..." April groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Everyone okay?" Hajime asked as he pushed his lounge chair off of himself.

"Define okay..." April said, her back cracking as she sat up.

"If you need medical attention. I'm gonna go check up on our neighbors." Hajime said before scrounging for his medical tricorder.

"I'm fine...just sore."

"Good. You should go help everyone who can walk, evacuate." Hajime said, going full on doctor mode.

"I don't think that's possible." Naruto said before pointing out the window, that was now under water.

"What do we do?" Naruto asked as he tried to calm Chiyo down.

"No idea." April admitted.

"Fine, we don't seem to be leaking so go find Picard and see if we need to head to the escape pods or not. I'm gonna go find Sakura." Naruto said.

"Right." April said before heading to the door, which still opened by itself. "Well...we still have power so that's good." She commented before continuing on.

Naruto sighed and tried to orient himself. The ship was tinted horizontally, turning all the rooms and hallways into funhouses. He laid Chiyo down to swaddle her properly in her blanket. Making sure her arms were securely placed at her sides and she was snug and supported. With that settled he tied her around his chest so that he could use both hands just in case.

"Okay Chiyo. Just hang on. We're gonna find your Momma." Naruto whispered as he navigated the tilted hallways and smashed open elevator shaft.

He peeked his head into the shaft to see that it was clear of any falling debris. The strain of the ship echoed throughout. Naruto leapt up to the vertical wall as carefully as he could with his precious cargo. Chiyo's cries reverberating up the structure.

He made it to the third floor where the medical staff were shuffling around in a daze. Lab equipment was spilled everywhere. Broken glass was on the floor. Some nurses held bandages to the foreheads of their co-workers, even when they themselves were bleeding.

"Sakura-chan!?" Naruto called out.

"Over here!" Sakura called out from the other room.

Naruto dashed past the wounded medical officers and rushed into Crusher's office where Sakura was treating Dr. Crusher for a dislocated knee.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto said as Chiyo continued to cry. "Are you okay?" He asked with concern.

Sakura came out from behind Crusher's desk and was hobbling on a single crutch. "I'm fine...just a sprained ankle. Dr. Crusher was insistent I take weight off of it."

"We both took a tumble when the ship crashed." Crusher breathed out.

Sakura then noticed Chiyo wailing in Naruto's arms. "Giver her here! Is she okay?!" She demanded frantically.

"She's fine. Plenty scared, but not hurt, I don't think." Naruto said as he unwrapped the cloth around him to hand Chiyo over to her mother.

Sakura quickly took her into her arms and scanned her thoroughly. Luckily, Chiyo didn't have so much as a bruise. "Thank the sage..." She breathed out, holding onto her daughter for dear life.

"Good. I was just here to make sure you were alright and let you know we were alright. I'll take her back now." Naruto said, holding out his arms.

"Noooo..." Sakura whined as she held onto Chiyo.

"Sakura, please. You've got all these injured to deal with. I'm going to see Picard. Let me take her." Naruto said.

Sakura pouted, reluctantly giving Chiyo back to Naruto.

"Great. I'll be back as soon as I can." Naruto said before remembering something. "By the way, Hajime is scouring the living quarters for injured and I sent April over to the Bridge to check in with Picard."

"Okay. While you're at it, find out where we are."

"Will do." Naruto said, not wanting to distract Sakura with what he thought he saw.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the bridge, things were by no means any less chaotic.

"April, get down to the engine room and find out what the situation is from Geordi." Picard ordered as the Bridge crew tried to orient themselves.

"Yes sir." April acknowledged before heading out, just as Naruto came onto the bridge.

"What's the situation, Captain?" Naruto asked.

Picard sighed. "The Enterprise is in no shape to fly. We're missing a nacelle and there are several hull breaches. Engines are offline and we're running on auxiliary power. The computer core is also offline. In all technicality, we're dead in the water."

"Actually, we are literally dead in the water." Riker said.

"Indeed. No casualties, but there are several injuries reported."

"Sakura and Crusher are both injured, but currently treating wounds." Naruto reported.

Picard nodded. "As for our location... we're still trying to figure that out."

"Sir, once we are all sorted I can have my ANBU scout the area." Naruto offered.

"Denied. The ship is completely under water. Until our computers come back online, you are to stay put." Picard ordered.

"Yes, sir." Naruto said. "Where do you want me for now?"

Picard looked at Naruto and then at Chiyo. "In your quarters watching after your daughter. I'll call you if I need anything."

"Very well." Naruto said before creating six Shadow Clones. "Use these guys at your leisure."

Picard nodded.

* * *

Two hours later, the crew had been accounted for and the ship had been secured. Picard called a meeting in the Bridge.

"Here's the abridged version." Picard started as he had everyone's attention drawn to the screen. It showed a schematic of the ship with several areas highlighted red. "The red areas are where there are hull breaches present. Deck 14 is completely under water. We stopped the flooding in the rest of the affected areas. Geordi, is the computer core back online?"

"Yes, Captain. It took some doing, but most of our key and backup systems are back online. Warp core is still offline."

"What about transporters?" Riker asked.

"The cargo transporters are still offline, but transporter rooms 2 and 3 are functional for minimal use only." Geordi said.

"Only one reported death." Crusher continued. "A maintenance worker who fell on his neck wrong. All other injured personal too severe to continue duty immediately are being moved to sick bay, but we are stretched thin."

"Security forces are at 90% strength." Worf reported. "If anything comes looking for a fight, we'll be ready."

"What about astrometrics and sensors?" Picard asked.

"Sensors are back online as is stellar cartography." Data spoke.

"Good, maybe we can find out where we are." Picard said hopefully.

"I have the ship running a scan as we speak." Data said.

"Good work." Picard nodded

"Captain, what about an external scouting party?" Sakura asked.

"I'd rather we wait until Data's scans are complete. We don't know where we are or even if this planet is inhabited." Picard said.

"It is." Naruto spoke up.

"I beg your pardon?" Picard said.

All eyes turned onto Naruto. "While we were crashing. I looked out the window and I couldn't believe what I saw. Hokage Mountain."

Sakura did a double take. "What?! Are you saying we crashed on Element?"

"It's gotta be. I'd like to lead a scout party to check it out all the same." Naruto said.

"Now hold on. If we are on Element, the first thing we should do is get in contact with Commander Tsunade." Crusher suggested.

"Coms are online, but we can't get a response from anyone." Geordi said.

"Granny Tsunade is probably away on Hokage business. Send me and Sakura with our ANBU team. We can get a clearer picture and if we run into any Leaf ninja the two of us can handle it." Naruto suggested.

"You're missing the point, Naruto. We can't even get in contact with Starfleet Command." Geordi clarified.

"All the more reason to get our bearings as quickly as possible. Once we get to the Leaf we can get in contact with Tsunade and then she can get us all the help we need." Naruto argued.

Picard sighed. "Granted. But because we're running on reserve power, only select 4 of your ANBU."

"Very well. Team Sol, myself, and Sakura will go. Plus Chiyo." Naruto decided.

"What? Why Chiyo?" Sakura exclaimed.

"To have her meet Granny Tsunade and the others." Naruto smiled like it was obvious.

"Are you NUTS?! I'm not putting our child in danger trying to find the Leaf! For all we know, we could be near Sound territory!"

"Relax, Sakura. There aren't any lakes big enough to hold the Enterprise near the Land of Sound. If I had to guess I would say we are just a few dozen miles north of the Leaf." Naruto said.

Data got curious and pulled up a geographical map of what the scans came up with. "This appears to be our current location."

"Told you. We hit the ground almost as soon as I saw the mountainside. I'd actually be more surprised if there weren't any Leaf ANBU surrounding this lake as we speak."

"Wait a minute...this is Ridu lake. Doesn't the 3 Tails still live here?" Sakura asked.

"He might. He moves around from lake to lake at the drop of a hat." Naruto said. "But Kurama can't sense him nearby. So, he's not here." Naruto said.

"We are wasting time. Take Chiyo if you think it's safe enough. Just return by the end of the day with a report of your findings." Picard ordered.

"Yes sir." Sakura and Naruto both said.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Naruto, Sakura and Chiyo were all packed and ready to go in the transporter room alongside Team Sol that was more dressed for battle.

Sakura had to stifle a chuckle. "Guys, this is our Home world. I don't think you need to be in full combat mode."

"Begging your pardon, sensei, but this planet is still hostile until we declare it isn't." Dan said as Kitty and April adjusted their phaser holsters.

"We're telling you it isn't." Naruto said firmly. "And leave those phasers behind. Leave all the Starfleet tech behind. The Prime Directive is still in effect."

Team Sol looked at one another reluctantly disarmed themselves.

"Just leave the talking to us if we run into anyone with a metal headband. And if a ninja who smells like dog tries to sniff you, let'em. That's an Inuzuka. He's not perving on you." Naruto warned.

"No, he's definitely perving on you. But we don't need to get into any fights." Sakura corrected.

"Coordinates set." The transporter chief spoke.

"Energize." Naruto ordered.

In an instant, their view changed from inside the ship to the shore of the lake where they could see the separated nacelle on the other side of the lake and the very top of the ship visible from the water.

"That's gonna be a problem if we want to keep the ship hidden." Sol said.

Naruto and Sakura however, weren't listening. They were too busy taking a deep breath. Inhaling the scent of pine and maple trees right in the beginning of summer. The sounds of birds chirping and grass being trampled underfoot. After an entire year, they were home.

"Um...Naruto?" April spoke up.

"Huh? What?" Naruto said, snapping out of his trance as even Chiyo remained quiet to observe her surroundings.

"Shouldn't we get going?"

"Oh yeah, we should. Just give us a minute. You guys go on ahead. We'll catch up in a second." Naruto said.

Dan and Kitty looked over at April and Sol, who shrugged and led them on. Leaving the Uzumaki family alone. Sakura leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder while Naruto wrapped his arm around her back.

"We're home." Naruto said.

"Yeah…" Sakura said before realism kicked in. "Well not quite. We gotta get back to the village." She said. "Hey, see if you can sense any incoming rescue parties since I'm sure we scared the crap out of everyone in the village."

"Hmmm, good idea." Naruto said before closing his eyes in meditation. A few seconds later he reopened them to reveal his green and orange Toad Sage eyes. He extended his senses outward, feeling the breathing of the forest, the energy given off by his wife, and the tiny flame emitted by their daughter. Extending his reach even further he could sense all four of Team Sol and their nervousness, followed by four other human presences, one of them being familiar.

"Konohamaru." Naruto said out of the blue.

"Konohamaru's team? Glad to see he's finally getting a mission." Sakura smiled.

"Something...seems a little off." Naruto mused. "His chakra signature is larger than I remember, but the other 3 I don't recognize at all."

Sakura gave Naruto a quizzical look. "Did he get assigned to a new team while we've been gone?"

"Well it has been a year. Things change." Naruto said.

"True. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find them."

"We won't have to." Naruto said. "The way I'm feeling it. Team Sol is gonna run into the Leaf before we can."

"That's...probably not good." Sakura said with concern.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Naruto said as an explosion echoed through the forest followed by the sounds of battle. "But I've been wrong before. Stay here!" He ordered before taking off in a dead sprint.

He leapt past the trees, his feet barely touching the ground as the sounds of shouts and clangs of kunai grew louder. By the time he arrived the battle had taken to the treetops with no ninja on either side to be seen.

"Every one, stop!" Naruto ordered. He was greeted with a kunai thrown straight at his shoulder, which he caught easily between his fingertips, only to discover an exploding smoke bomb attached to the end. His vision was completely obscured, but not his Sage mode senses. The next thing to come at him was a kick from behind, which he blocked with relative ease.

"Seriously, we are friendlies." Naruto called out to the mysterious figure in the smoke. A short figure by the way his punches were coming at Naruto.

Whoever this guy was, he was good. Maybe not Jounin good, but this kid could easily be a Chunin based on his height and skill.

The smoke cleared and Naruto could see what this kid looked like, but he truly had never seen him before. Though he did look a little familiar.

"If you are trying to pretend to be our Hokage, you are doing a very poor job of it." The kid spoke.

"Say what?" Naruto said before a fire ball came sailing towards him.

"Air Bullet!" Naruto shouted as he shot out an equal sized wind ball, making the two jutsus cancel each other out.

Another kid landed in front of him, this time it was a young girl with black hair and black eyes covered by red glasses. She remarkably looked like Sasuke. But her outfit almost perfectly resembled one that Sakura used to wear.

"You definitely are a poor man's imitation of Lord Seventh. You got the details right, but you missed his age by about ten years." The girl mocked.

"Lord Seventh? What happened to Lady Fifth? Granny Tsunade." Naruto said.

The girl laughed. "Are you serious? She retired after the 4th war and Lord Kakashi took over."

"No, she didn't. She was Hokage two weeks ago when I talked to her. Where is she? Something is very wrong. I need to talk to her."

Both kids looked at one another, trying to figure out if this pale imitation of their Hokage was being serious. "Well, you're wrong and you have no business talking to one of our more esteemed Hokage's." The girl said.

"No business? I'm her successor. She thinks of me as a grandson. Stop this nonsense and take me to her. This is all a huge misunderstanding." Naruto begged.

He was once again met with an attack from behind, but not from either of the two Genin. He could sense a third Genin attacking him from behind. He turned around and almost faltered when he saw the jutsu in the boy's hand. A Rasengan.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto asked before catching the boy's wrist and getting a closer look at him. He wasn't Konohamaru. Not even close.

"Shut up, faker!" The blond-haired boy snapped. His blue eyes matching Naruto just like his four whisker marks on his cheeks. He looked at Naruto with absolute disgust. "You think you can just take the appearance of my deadbeat dad and people would buy it? You're as dumb as he is."

"Me the faker?" Naruto said before his own blood started to boil.

"Yeah, you." The blond boy growled before punching Naruto right in the face, ending this stupid transformation jutsu of his once and for all.

The girl on the other hand, watched Naruto carefully. If this was a transformation jutsu, it should have dispelled upon contact. But it didn't. Her eyes turned red with a single tomoe mark in each eye and what she saw shocked her.

"Boruto! Stop! This isn't a transformation jutsu!"

"It's not?" Boruto called out before being punched back right upside the head.

"That hurt, you brat!" Naruto shouted.

"What's going on over here!" An adult Jounin shouted in a blue scarf. At the same time Sakura came running with Chiyo and shouted the exact same thing.

"Sakura-chan! I told you to stay back!" Naruto shouted.

"Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki. What is going on here?" The Jounin demanded.

Boruto pointed to the Naruto in front of them.

"What the Hell? First a team of rogue ninjas, now this Naruto impersonator?" The Jounin said before noticing the kunoichi holding the baby. "And... Sakura?"

"M-mom...?" Sarada asked.

"Sakura, you need to get back. These kids are crazy." Naruto said as he flash-stepped in between Sakura and this Genin Team.

"Wait, Mom?" Sakura asked as Chiyo started to squirm.

"Sarada, that's not your mom. She's another fake. Like that loser." Boruto said, pointing at Naruto.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Say that to my face, punk!"

"Who are you calling a punk?" Boruto snapped, despite his teammates' embarrassment.

"The idiot running around in a track suit. Are you supposed to be my son? That's an old act there, fanboy! But you forgot the other two whiskers. I've seen better face paint with permanent marker." Naruto snapped.

"Naruto, wait a minute...I sense Kurama's chakra in him." Sakura spoke up.

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked.

 _ **'It's true, Kit. I'm sensing some of my chakra off of the brat. The same amount I can sense off of Little Kit.'**_ Kurama said.

Naruto was dumbfounded. He had no offspring besides Chiyo. So how did this kid who he's never seen before end up existing?

"You two really need to drop this act. You're way too young to pretend to be Lord Seventh and Sakura-san." The Jounin said, letting Naruto and Sakura finally get a good look at him. He was dressed in a flak jacket Jounin vest with brown spiky hair and a blue scarf that Naruto would know anywhere. Only that scarf was supposed to have a much younger owner. Not this adult.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto asked. Not wanting to believe it, even as he sensed that Jounin's chakra, confirming him to be his informal student beyond the shadow of a doubt.

"You know my name, so at least you memorized the name of your son's Jounin-sensei. But that still doesn't explain how you skimmed on the subtle details if you were going to impersonate our Hokage. And whoever told you that he and Sakura had a daughter was willfully misinforming you." Konohamaru said, noting the baby Sakura held close to her chest.

"Okay knock it off, Konohamaru! This prank isn't funny anymore!" Naruto snapped.

"This isn't a prank." Konohamaru said seriously. "But your scheme ends here."

"Damn it, I'm not scheming anyone or impersonating them either!" Naruto shouted as Chiyo cried even harder, louder than any shouting adult.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Alright!" Naruto shouted back before exploding into golden flames.

Konohamaru and his Genin were taken aback. This was no genjutsu, a genjutsu couldn't radiate this much chakra. This was the real deal. the real Golden Cloak their Hokage was famous for.

The three Genin hopped back at this unexpected display. Sarada's eyes went wide. Before her standing in golden robes was the spitting image of their Hokage. And he was holding Chiyo close to his chest. His chakra acting as a blanket that calmed her down. Even Sarada was feeling its effects from 20 feet away. She felt calm and secure. Like she was standing before a roaring hearth. Exactly as she felt the first time she saw Lord Naruto in that form.

Naruto then spotted Sarada's red eyes. He knew they were black before, but he knew all too well about those red eyes. "You're...an Uchina?" Naruto asked.

"I-I am, sir." She said, feeling like she was speaking to Lord Seventh.

"And you called me mom...that means..." Sakura sputtered as she pieced everything together. "Naruto... this isn't our Element. That temporal anomaly that Data talked about...this must be a different timeline."

"The Hell? How does you being her mother lead to an alternative..." Naruto said before putting the pieces together. Her clothes, her Sharingan. The only way to get that combination... Well he hoped it could never happen in his universe. "Oh."

Sakura stepped forth. "I am Sakura Uzumaki of the Federation starship Enterprise. I'm...sorry for the misunderstanding, but we seemed to have been brought here by a spacial anomaly. Why it brought us here, we're not sure. We are not impersonators or rogue ninja. This was purely an accident. But we need help. We have hundreds wounded and our ship is badly damaged."

"Starship? Federation? What are you talking about?" Boruto asked.

"Uzumaki?" Sarada exclaimed.

"We aren't your Naruto and Sakura." Naruto said, finally getting it. "We are from another universe. Apparently, another universe a decade in the past."

"Yes, but, Uzumaki?" Sarada asked before taking a closer look at the pink haired baby in her not mother's arms. Pink hair and three whisker marks on her cheeks. Just like Lord Seventh. Her eyes nearly knocked her glasses off her nose.

"Apparently, you are my daughter in this universe. But in ours, you don't exist because I never married Sasuke. I married Naruto." Sakura said.

"You married my Dad?" Boruto asked. Looking at Naruto with even more disdain. "What about my mother?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know who your mother is." Naruto admitted, still trying to get his own grips with everything.

"Hinata Hyuga." Boruto said like it was obvious.

"Oh...of course." Naruto said, trying to spot any resemblance the boy had with Hinata. Not that he thought the boy was lying or anything.

"Hinata is back on Element. She and Naruto broke up some time ago." Sakura explained.

"So...wait...I don't exist either? Or my sister?"

"You have a sister?" Naruto asked, looking at Chiyo.

"She looks like Mom." Boruto said.

"I think we all need to take a seat." Konohamaru said, he being the senior most ninja in the vicinity.

"No." Sakura said. "I'm sorry, but we really do need help. We need to talk with the Hokage."

"Sakura, wait." Naruto said.

"Naruto, we can't wait. You know how urgent this is." Sakura pressed.

"But the Prime Directive. You just revealed Starfleet's existence to a bunch of Genin." Naruto hissed.

"The damage was already done when we flew over the Leaf." Sakura reminded.

"Wait, that was you?" Konohamaru asked.

"That was us. We are a part of a government of space fairing planets. Me and Naruto are contracted as bodyguards for the Captain of our ship, the Enterprise. The actual existence of Starfleet is supposed to be a triple S class secret that only the Hokage is supposed to know." Sakura explained. "Our ship crashed in the lake over there." Sakura said pointing back where we came.

"This is a lot to take in." Mitsuki admitted.

"I'm sorry, you are...?" Sakura asked.

"Mitsuki. If I look familiar it is because I am Orochimaru's son." He said, because why not pile on more bombshells.

Sakura and Naruto's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads.

"And you were...liberated from the Sound village?" Naruto guessed.

"No. I was born and raised in Konoha."

"I'm sorry, is Orochimaru a good guy in this universe or am I missing something?" Naruto asked.

"After the 4th war. My father was pardoned of his past crimes and was allowed to reside in the village. Albeit with constant supervision."

"Pardoned for what crimes?" Sakura asked. "Killing the 3rd Hokage? Orchestrating the biggest sneak attack against the Leaf in village history? Years of kidnapping and experimenting on thousands of innocents including children? Creating the enemy state the Sound village? Am I missing anything important?" She rattled on.

"He tried to kill me, Pervy Sage, and Granny Tsunade once." Naruto added.

"It's a long story. But the fact remains is that he is a citizen of the Leaf again." Konohamaru said.

"This can't be right. Even you wouldn't be stupid enough to pardon Orochimaru for all of that." Sakura said to Naruto.

"It was actually former Hokage Kakashi who pardoned him."

"That makes even less sense." Sakura said.

"In short, Kakashi pardoned him by order of the Shinobi council and the Daimyo." Konohamaru summed up.

"Fine, fine. Let's just pretend that it makes sense." Sakura said. "Can you take us to see your Naruto? We need to arrange a meeting between him and our Captain as soon as possible."

"We could." Konohamaru said. "If you tell your team to quit surrounding us. I assume they are with you?"

Naruto just waved his hand down and all four of Team Sol leapt from the tree branches out into the open. Landing behind Naruto and Sakura in a defensive posture.

"Are these guys also Leaf ninja from your dimension?" Konohamaru asked.

"Nope. Star fleet security officers trained by me and Sakura in the ways of the ninja." Naruto said.

Konohamaru nodded. "They're not bad, but they have a long way to go."

"Good enough to evade you." April said.

"Easy on the sass. Konohamaru was my first student." Naruto said. "And he looks like he has become a master ninja in his own right. This other me has gotta be proud of you."

"He is. But how long have you trained this lot? They still seem very green."

"To be honest, about 8 months." Naruto admitted.

Konohamaru whistled. "Only 8 months and they can go toe to toe with a Genin team."

"Starfleet officers are very quick learners." Naruto said proudly.

"Speaking of, we have a couple hundred officer on the Enterprise who need medical attention." Sakura urged.

"Alright, we'll take you to see Naruto. But no funny business." Konohamaru said.

"Come on, Kono, this is me we're talking about." Naruto grinned.

"Which is why I said no funny business, Boss." Konohamaru said, letting his old nickname slip.

Naruto chuckled good naturedly, Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Nothing ever changes." Sakura sighed.

"I missed you while I was out in space, Kono." Naruto said.

"Then you have me at a disadvantage. I just saw you a few hours ago."

"So this is much less heartwarming for you." Naruto said as they group followed the eldest ninja back to the Leaf.

"It's unique, I'll give you that." Konohamaru said.

* * *

Back on the Enterprise, Picard was busy overseeing the repairs being made to the ship. New holes were popping up every few minutes. Geordi's engineers were having to strip the wall panels in the hallways just to plug up the new holes. The security officers had been turned into a bucket brigade trying to dry out the lower decks. All the while Crusher was still up to her neck in patients that she and her team had to treat with low power.

"Sir?" Geordi spoke as he entered the stripped remains of the bridge.

"Speak, Commander." Picard said.

"Sir I need your permission to cut a hole in the port side of deck 4." Geordi said.

"For what reason?" Picard asked.

"For fresh air. Our emergency power is being strained by the need to keep recycling our oxygen. By opening a hole in the top of the ship that is sticking out of the lake, we can divert at least 20 gigawatts to other more crucial functions like the computers, building equipment, and medical stations."

"Hmmm..." Picard said.

"We would also have a place to empty out the water. Which would save more power instead of decompressing each deck." Geordi added.

"Very well. Try not to make too big of a hole." Picard said.

"Of course, sir. I'll have the boys install a barrier around the entrance to prevent leaks." Geordi said as he immediately stood up to relay the order.

Before he could leave though, the computer terminal on the bridge beeped.

"Captain, I believe you ought to see this." Data said.

"What is it, Data?" Picard asked.

"My scan of the temporal anomaly has completed. According to our sensors, the anomaly in which we came here is actually a temporal wormhole. However, it seems that it is reducing in size rapidly."

"How long until our gateway home closes?" Picard asked.

"Based on the computers analysis. At its current rate, the wormholes diameter will become too narrow for the Enterprise to pass through in 9.47 standard Element days." Data reported.

"Data...I want you to approximate the time it will take to repair the Enterprise with the materials we have on hand." Picard ordered seriously.

"Based on what we have for materials in storage and going by the amount of damage the Enterprise has sustained, it will take us approximately four standard Earth months to fully repair the Enterprise to leave the planet." Data said.

"So that's not going to work." Geordi said.

"How long does this anomaly reappear?" Picard asked.

"It is hard to say. But, by my estimates, approximately around 70 Element years." Data said.

"So we have one shot at this." Picard said. "What if we were to escape on shuttles? That could buy us weeks."

"It wouldn't work. The Enterprise took such a beating on our way through the wormhole once. A bunch of shuttle ships wouldn't stand a chance." Geordi said.

"This would also have a similar effect to our escape pods. However, I took the liberty of scanning the planet. It seems the Leaf Village has a sufficient supply of Tritanium Ore and there appears to be several deposits of Tritanium and Dilithium in several areas on the planet." Data reported.

"If we had this reserve, could we make this 9-day deadline?" Picard asked.

"Theoretically it is possible. We would have to reconfigure several of our weapons to refine and cut the ore to needed specifications."

"Let's assume for now that we will get the ore we need when Naruto and Sakura meet up with Commander Tsunade. Geordi I want you to assemble another team of engineers to reconfigure as many weapons as you need. Bring on any staff from any division you need to get this done." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Geordi said.

"Data, I want you to keep program scanning the wormhole at all times. I want to know about any changes in the rate of its diameter shrinking the minute it happens."

"Aye sir." Data acknowledged.

"Naruto to Picard." Naruto said over the coms.

"Go ahead. Did you meet up with Commander Senju?"

"Yeah, no, about that." Naruto said.

"Explain." Picard demanded.

"Turns out, we aren't on Element. Not our Element anyway."

Picard and Data looked at one another, the former giving a look of confusion. "Uhh...care to elaborate?"

"That wormhole we went through spat us out into a different dimension. One that's about ten years in the future to ours. Also, apparently, I'm married to my ex, Hinata." Naruto said, earning himself a stink eye from Boruto. "And Sakura married Sasuke. We ran into our 'kids.'"

"Data, can you confirm?" Picard asked.

"It is plausible. The temporal wormhole seems to pass through certain areas of subspace. It would also explain why we cannot locate any Federation sensor buoys near the neutral zone or why we are not getting a response from Starfleet Command. However, the likelihood that we have traveled to another dimension is not encouraging. The chances of passing through another dimension are-"

"Yes, Data. I don't want to hear the odds. All I need to know is if it is possible." Picard interrupted.

"It is possible, however unlikely." Data said.

"Look, we are going to meet the Seventh Hokage to confirm. With any luck this will all be one incredible ruse." Naruto said.

"Ask yourself and Sakura something. Did Element ever discover Tritanium or Dilithium that you remember?" Picard asked.

"Let me ask Sakura." Naruto said. "Hey Sakura-chan."

"I heard. On our Element, those two resources don't exist. If they did, Lady Tsunade would have ordered the production of starships decades ago." Sakura informed.

"Is she allowed to make starships after she served her time with Starfleet? I thought we couldn't give warp technology." Naruto said.

"We can't, but if you discover it on your own, that makes it a totally different matter." Picard said.

"And what if Sakura and I somehow figured out how to build a warp drive on our own?"

"Considering you two have confirmed that your race is in fact from Earth, the Prime Directive has little weight over your planet."

"Yeah but if we didn't."

"Let's not waste time on theories. This Element has resources we need to get back into our own time and we have little more than nine days to do it. The wormhole is shrinking."

"Oh crap. I'll be sure to bring that up in the meeting." Naruto said.

"See to it. Picard out."

* * *

Naruto put away his combadge just as Konohamaru jumped off the tree branches down to the ground for the last leg of the journey.

"Seems you guys are in quite a pickle." Konohamaru said.

"Just another Tuesday for us. So long as your Naruto can help us, we should be golden." Naruto said.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Lord Naruto is a cool guy. He won't turn you away if you're in need." Konohamaru praised.

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like him." Sakura smiled.

"Tch...he'll go out of his way to help everyone who asks but won't even spend time with his family. He just uses his stupid Shadow Clones to do that." Boruto scoffed.

"I'm sorry. He what?" Naruto asked.

"You heard me." Boruto spat angrily.

"Bullshit. I would never do that." Naruto said. "If anything, I would have my clones do the work so I could be with my family." His eyes fell on Sakura and Chiyo.

Sakura smacked him upside the head. "LANGUAGE!"

"Ow! But it is!" He argued.

"That may be, but maybe your counterpart in this world is a little different than you." Sakura pointed out.

"He can't be my counterpart then. The second we get the metal we need I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. I'll smack him upside the head if I need to." Naruto declared.

"Pfft. Even if you are a younger version of my father, my real father would brush you aside like you were a fly." Boruto scoffed.

"So much for hating your dad." Naruto said.

"I do hate him. But I also know that you are no match for him."

"Yeah, but do you know what the difference between your dad and me is?"

"I don't care." Boruto waved off.

"Your dad is 14 years from his prime. I am only 4 years from my prime." Naruto said.

Boruto just scoffed. "You're as dumb as he is."

"Who are you? Every opponent I've ever faced and beaten?"

"Whatever."

"Hmpf." Naruto scoffed. Making Sakura smirk.

"What's so funny?" Sarada asked her quietly.

"Oh nothing...just that those two are more alike than they realize." Sakura waved off.

"I suppose..." Sarada said as they walked through the forest, getting closer and closer to the cliffs. That's when she spotted Chiyo staring at her with those big blue eyes of hers. She looked so adorable it was making Sarada's heart race. And then there were those whisker marks.

"So..." Sarada began.

"So?" Sakura asked.

"So... you and Naruto, huh?"

Sakura blushed, but smiled. "Yeah...it kind of happened out of the blue."

"How out of the blue?" Sarada asked.

"Within a week of coming aboard the Enterprise. I had just broken up with Sa-with your father."

"How did that happen?"

Sakura took in a deep breath and sighed. "You father...wasn't conscientious of my needs and wants. Safe to say...his only goal in our relationship was to...uh...well..."

"Mom trained me as a medic so you don't have to hold back on those kinds of details." Sarada said.

"Alright then...his main goal was to impregnate me to restore his clan. He was always away, righting the wrongs he did in the past. I wanted to go with him, but he wouldn't allow it. When the opportunity to go on an extended mission out into space, I jumped on it. I left your father a note telling him not to wait for me and that I would be gone for at least 5 years."

"That sounds about right for my Dad." Sarada said.

"Right. So one night, into our first week on the Enterprise, Naruto and I got drunk and we...um..." Sakura blushed heavily.

"And then you had Chiyo?" Sarada guessed.

"Uh, not quite. That was two weeks later that...we actually conceived."

"Was that another drunk night?" Sarada asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"No. That was Naruto sacrificing himself to save the entire ship and a few hundred aliens we had rescued. I believe your mother taught you about the Contraceptive Jutsu?"

"I know of it but...oooohhh..." Sarada said in realization.

"I believe my words at the time were, I needed to keep my sunshine alive." Sakura said as she snuggled closer to Chiyo. "Ten months later. I got my second sun."

"So... wait. You two dated for a couple of weeks, got pregnant, then sometime between the time you conceived to the time you gave birth you two got married, all in the span of a year?"

"Well... It helped that the two of us were an ANBU duo for the better part of three years after the 4th War." Sakura admitted. "We had plenty of time to grow closer. And when we ended up on the ship together. Just the two of us. With no one else we knew within a thousand lightyears. It all just sort of clicked."

"Oh... Okay, that makes more sense. I see mom hanging around Naruto every now and then. Usually at Ichiraku's." Sarada said, making Naruto stop dead in his tracks.

"This place has Ichiraku's Ramen?" Naruto exclaimed as he ran up to Sarada and grabbed her by the arms. Sakura just rolled her eyes, knowing that this was coming but had hoped it could wait for later.

"Um...yes?" Sarada said, a little weirded out.

The Uchiha heir had to back up and blush at the face of her Hokage getting right into hers

Sakura noticed this and smirked. _'Uh huh...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'_ She thought.

Naruto then turned out his pockets, only to remember that he didn't have any on his uniform. "Sh-shoot, Sakura-chan, do you have any Ryo? I need my fix."

"Does it look like I do?" Sakura asked.

"Bolt!" Naruto shouted.

"Don't call me that!"

"Can you spare some change for your old man's counterpart? It's been a year since I've had any decent ramen. I'm begging you."

"You really are my deadbeat dad. You sure you aren't just in the future?" Boruto scoffed.

"Hey, none of that. I'll treat you, Boss." Konohamaru offered. "After we save your ship and all its crew members."

Naruto got a little teary eyed. "Konohamaru... I always knew you were my favorite student." He said with all of Team Sol walking on either side of him.

"Oh boy..." Sakura and Sarada sweat dropped.

"Let it never be said that I had the greatest pick of husbands." Sakura sighed.

"At least he's around." Sarada said.

"And Sasuke isn't?" Sakura asked.

"Are you kidding me? I didn't even meet him until I was 10." Sarada scoffed.

"I'm sorry, ten?" Sakura asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Give or take, yes."

"Okay, what the Hell? How was my counterpart okay with this?" Sakura asked.

"Do you really wanna know?" Sarada deadpanned.

"I do. It might give me and excuse to hit my counterpart or Sasuke." Sakura said.

"Status mostly. Being married to the last Uchiha has its perks, as you would say. The rest of it is your libido that rarely gets used."

"Excuse me?"

"That's what I've heard you...er, mom say."

"How can she, I, er, she, just marry him for his status? When I was going out with Sasuke I wanted to make him happy. Give him a home he could always come home to. I didn't care about his family name." Sakura said.

"Well, that has something to do with it, too, I guess. I don't know. She really doesn't talk about dad much."

"I can't believe that she would be that selfish." Sakura sighed. "Is she at least a better parent than Boruto is claiming Naruto is?"

"Oh definitely. She can cook like you wouldn't believe. I still think her ramen is better than Ichiraku's."

"Oh we had better not tell my Naruto that. He gets word of that he might leave me for me." Sakura joked.

Sarada laughed. "Won't happen though."

"And why is that?" Sakura asked as she bounced Chiyo into a more comfortable position.

"Mom is still married and so is Naruto. So are you for that matter."

"Well I know that. Its good at least. They all still love each other." Sakura sighed.

Sarada raised an eyebrow. "You sound disappointed."

"I am. I honestly expected better from our counterparts. And I wonder what this says about us in ten years." Sakura admitted.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I don't want Naruto to grow up to be a father who works when he has the means to spend time with his children. And I don't want to be someone who is married just for the status."

"Are you going to be leaving this...Federation in 10 years?" Sarada asked. "Honestly, from what you talked about, it sounds perfect for Shinobi who can't find work. Traveling the stars and defending your home world from interstellar species sounds right up my alley."

"Four years. And that is still something we have to decide. If Naruto gets selected to become Hokage then I will happily stay on Element. If not. Then we will decide together." Sakura said. "As for you, it's certainly an adventure of a lifetime. Even without the romantic aspect of my life I still would never regret being selected for Star fleet."

"Who says Naruto can't become Hokage in space? If your Element discovers this warp whatever, he could lead not only the Leaf into a new era, but the whole world. If he's anything like Lord Seventh, then he would have the whole world backing him. You could have your own Starfleet with Naruto leading them."

"You make it sound so simple. I wish it was so." Sakura admitted.

"And why can't it be?" Sarada asked seriously before frowning. "This is what mom does too. You both make excuses for everything. If you want something bad enough, you work till you get it. Lord Seventh is a prime example of that. You make your own wants and dreams come to you, not wait and see what happens."

"Naruto is a special case. He always has been."

"That's not true and you know it. Mom often told me stories about how weak and useless she was until she pushed herself to become stronger by Grandma Tsunade's training. but her biggest push to drive her in that direction was Naruto. He always wanted to be accepted by the village and become Hokage one day. She always said that it was his passionate drive to improve himself rubbed off onto her and it made her become the badass she is today. Is your reasons for becoming the way you are now any different?"

Sakura looked at Sarada and for once could truly see her as her daughter. Something that had been difficult what with her sharing so many of Sasuke's features. And the glasses, which honestly reminded Sakura of Karin. But the way she acted reminded Sakura of the best parts of herself.

"No. It's no different. If Naruto could do that, he would have my support all the way. Husband or not. But I'm saying if we do have to choose, I will choose to be with my family."

"And sometimes, you have to put your foot down for what you believe is best for your family. At least, that's what Grandma Haruno always says."

"You don't know what I have been willing to do for my family. What I have been willing to do for Naruto or Chiyo." Sakura said. Thinking of the times she dreamed of killing Sasuke for Naruto if the former ever turned evil again. To begging on her knees for Chiyo's life in front of Romulans.

"Maybe not. I'm just saying." Sarada said.

"Well quit acting like the parent. That's my role." Sakura stated. _'Even if I've only been one for two weeks.'_

Sarada subconsciously looked at Boruto briefly and back at the road ahead of her. She did this a few times, something that Sakura caught onto. Once Sakura realized what was going on, she smirked.

"Oh so that's why..." She grinned.

"What?" Sarada asked.

"Oh nothing. I wouldn't want to spoil the fun." Sakura snickered, feeling so very Ino-like.

"Just tell me. God, it's bad enough Aunt Ino and my Mom do this."

"You have a crush on Boruto. I assume because you had a crush on Naruto once." Sakura said.

Sarada's face turned redder than her shirt. "I do not!"

"Oh yeah you do! It's plastered all over your face." Sakura grinned in a very Naruto like way.

"And where did you get Naruto, I mean, Lord Hokage!" Sarada hissed. Thankfully Naruto was busy laughing with Konohamaru about something.

"Oh please. No father figure growing up, save for your mother's best friend. The handsome, powerful, and important Seventh Hokage. What girl wouldn't develop a bit of a puppy love crush? Then when you realize that he is too old and married you go for the next best thing." Sakura deduced.

Sarada just shied away, completely red faced.

"But enough about that. Are you aiming to be a medic like me, er...your mother?"

"No... I want to become Hokage." Sarada admitted.

Sakura widened her eyes. "Hokage? Wow...that actually explains a lot."

"Like what?" Sarada asked.

"Why you reminded me of Naruto more than Sasuke." Sakura said.

Sarada blushed lightly, but smiled. "Mom says that, too..."

"That's one of the highest compliments I can give you. This village could use more Naruto's in it." Sakura said.

Sarada just smiled lightly.

"Here we are." Konohamaru spoke up.

Naruto and Sakura looked out the massive expanse of the village. But something was wrong. Where there was once a colorful array of 3-5 story buildings now there were skyscrapers a hundred stories tall made of glass and steel. It was about as un-hidden as a Hidden village could be.

"Okay. Now you have to be pulling my leg." Naruto said.

"It was your counterpart's idea." Konohamaru said.

"Okay, fuck no. I love all the colorful little buildings. What are these monstrosities? Where is the color? The trees? The little shops? The ninjas bouncing off the rooftops? This looks like a boring ass city from Earth." Naruto ranted.

"This is what global peace brings you."

"Oh Hell no, Sakura, grab your kunai we are going back to war." Naruto said as he drew his own ninja tool.

Sakura bashed him in the head. "Knock it off, Baka!"

"Ow, okay, okay, I'm kidding." Naruto said as he put his knife away.

Boruto started snickering to himself, before Sarada wailed on him as well. "That goes for you too!"

Sakura smiled with pride as Chiyo giggled.

"Alright you lot, let's go." Konohamaru urged.

"Oh I so enjoy these Uzumaki Family Fun Hours." Sol said.

"Oh hush." Sakura barked.

"Come on." Konohamaru urged before jumping down the cliffside.

"Um..." Sakura said, worried about Chiyo.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I've got her." Naruto said as he transformed into his Golden Sage Mode. The mode he could fly in. Kinda sorta.

Sakura nodded and handed Chiyo over to him.

Naruto held her securely to his chest like she was the most important thing in the world. It honestly melted Sakura's heart just to see that simple action. And then he had the gull to lean forward to steal a kiss before leaping off the edge with a cocky grin on his face. Sakura's gaze followed him down as his jacket's sleeves expanded into wings that allowed him to gentle descend down like an angel. Sakura couldn't help but smile at the stones on that man who infuriated her as much as he impressed her.

Sakura and the others followed suit and leapt down to the bottom of the cliff, now able to better see the village from ground zero.

"Sweet Sage...a lot really has changed..." Sakura said, not happy with what she was seeing.

"I know. At least the Hokage Tower and Academy is still the same." Naruto said.

"Because that's the way I wanted it to be." Spoke a very familiar voice behind them.

Naruto and Sakura whipped around and saw a much older looking Naruto, dressed in his Hokage robes. But something was off about him. For one, his hair was much shorter than the other, almost like a buzz cut. Another was his right hand was still completely covered in bandages. Like he hadn't had his arm completely regrown and was still relying on the Zetsu arms that were grown for him temporarily.

"I knew I sensed another Sakura on that thing that flew over." Hokage Naruto said seriously. "You nearly sent the village into a panic. I hope you have a good reason for coming here."

"You don't want to react to seeing me?" Naruto asked, letting his Kyuubi cloak drop while he still held Chiyo in his arms.

"A younger version of me with longer hair. To be honest, in my 20 plus years being a Shinobi, nothing surprises me any-" He cut himself off when he noticed a baby in his counterpart's arms with whisker marks and pink hair. Then he turned to the present Sakura and went wide eyed. "Y-you two...got married...? and started a family...?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought you said nothing surprised you anymore." Naruto said, making Boruto involuntary snicker.

Hokage Naruto grumbled. _'Dammit! I thought Sakura-chan would always love Sasuke.'_ He thought.

 _ **'Apparently not in every universe, Kit.'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'I gave up too easily, didn't I?'_

 _ **'Now, don't second guess yourself, Kit. You love Hinata and your kids. Don't think about what could have been. Focus on what you have now.'**_

 _'I know, it's just... We still have so much fun when we hang out. And I get along so much with Sarada. Sometimes I just wonder... What if?'_

 _ **'What if nothing.'**_

 _'Well I guess now I get to see for myself.'_ The Hokage said, looking on at his younger self and a younger Sakura stand protectively next to each other to pass their precious little girl between them.

"Please, come into my office. I'm sure we have much to discuss and in a more private setting."

* * *

After a few minutes, Hokage Naruto led Naruto, Sakura and Team Sol into his office, followed by the next generation of Team 7.

"Thank you, Konohamaru. Your team can go." Hokage Naruto said politely. He crossed over to the end of the office that Naruto and Sakura had spent their lives visiting and revisiting. Different owners but that same air of respect and power accompanied it as Naruto turned away from the windows overlooking the Leaf village to face his guests. He sat down in his desk. A sight the Starfleet Naruto never thought he would see without a mirror or a camera.

"Nice to see you too, Dad." Boruto mocked.

Starfleet Naruto watched carefully to see what his counterparts next action would be.

"Boruto, quit being a brat in front of our guests. Show some tact." The Hokage snapped.

"Oh, like you're one to talk. How many birthdays of Himawari's did you miss?! How many of mom's birthdays did you miss?! How many of MY birthdays did you miss?! Or even your anniversary!" Boruto ranted.

"That's enough!" Konohamaru shouted as he smacked Boruto upside the head.

"Get off me!" Boruto snapped.

Starfleet Naruto was seeing red. He had no idea his counterpart let his family crumble this badly. Was this all because of his dream to become Hokage? If it was, he wasn't sure he wanted it now.

"Boruto Uzumaki! You are one more word from being suspended as a Shinobi!" The Hokage barked.

"That's enough!" Starfleet Naruto shouted.

All eyes turned on to the younger Naruto, each of them mistaking him for the Hokage Naruto for a second. Even Boruto and the Hokage Naruto paid attention.

"Boruto, Team 7, thank you for escorting me and my wife, my team, and my daughter to the Hokage's office." Naruto stated. "I need to discuss urgent matters with him in private. So, if you could please leave, I would greatly appreciate it."

All eyes turned to Boruto to see it he would comply or throw another tantrum. Everyone held their breath as Boruto let loose a defeat sigh.

"Okay, you're welcome, Lieutenant Uzumaki." Boruto said, getting the message.

Without a glance at his father he turned away and headed out the door, followed by his teammates Sarada, Mitsuki, and finally Konohamaru. Who gave one last look at both Naruto's before shutting the door behind him.

"Thank you." Hokage Naruto slouched in his chair. He always felt so fucking drained after a shouting match with his son.

"You know all he wants is a little gratitude." Naruto said, his voice like a lit match over a floor covered in oil.

"Please, don't fucking start." The Hokage said, holding up his hand and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I've got everyone else in the village telling me how to better raise my son. I don't need to hear it from myself, twice."

"Look if I started ranting into you about how I think you're raising your kid my team and I would never get the supplies you need from you." Naruto admitted.

"Ah yes. You need something. Something from me. Everyone needs something from me. My family needs more time with me. The building contractors need more of my time for them. The Daimyo needs some one on one time along with a banquet dinner from me. Everybody always comes to me because they NEED SOMETHING!" He ranted before rubbing his eyes. His breath exhaled like it was made of lead.

Everyone stayed silent, recognizing a man who needed a fucking break.

Hokage Naruto took a deep breath and clapped his hands together.

"How can I help you? What brings you to this side of the multiverse?" He asked.

"I don't know how much information Konohamaru managed to slip to you before we got here..." Lieutenant Naruto admitted.

"You are space travelers from another universe and you need some kind of metal to get back home in a short amount of time." Hokage Naruto summarized.

"That's the short version of it, yes." Sakura said.

Hokage Naruto sighed. "Alright...do you have a list?"

"We need Tritanium Ore and Dilithium. As much as you can spare." Sakura said.

"Tritanium? Dilithium? I have no idea what that is." Hokage Naruto said in confusion.

"Well can you check with your ore guy? Or whoever is in charge of keeping track of what materials you guys have on hand?" Naruto asked.

"That would be me." Hokage Naruto said before remembering something. "Come to think of it, there was a recently discovered type of ore that is said to be much harder than diamonds. My scientists are still analyzing it, but they are having a hard time cutting it."

"We have ways of analyzing it to make sure it's what we need." Naruto said.

Sakura nodded before pulling out her tricorder. "Do you have a sample of it on hand?"

"No, but I can get some." Hokage Naruto said before flashing his chakra. Instantly a Leaf ANBU agent appeared kneeling in front of the Hokage's desk. "Fetch me a sample of that new ore that was just discovered. It should be available in the R&D labs. Bring it back pronto."

"Yes, my Lord." The ANBU agent said before flashing away.

"What...was that?" April asked.

"One of my ANBU agents." Hokage Naruto said. "Code named Armadillo."

"The kind of ANBU I'm training you lot to be." Lt. Naruto added.

"Is that right? And these four are the would be ANBU?" Hokage Naruto asked, finally paying attention to the four men and women standing behind Naruto and Sakura.

"They are Starfleet officers. During the first few months of being on board the Enterprise, I quickly noticed that Starfleet combat training was piss poor. So with approval from the Admirals of the Federation, I started training up 12 trainees to become Shinobi." Naruto said.

"They are about mid-range Genin to low Chunin right now, but in time they will be on par with us." Sakura added.

"How long have you been training them?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"About 8 months." Naruto said.

"And they had chakra training before you started on them?"

"No. I had to start them from scratch."

"Impressive. How long did you say you were staying here on this planet?" Hokage Naruto asked before remembering something. "Where are my manners? I haven't offered any of you weary travelers refreshments. And you with baby. Anything for the little princess?"

"Oh no, we're fine. But...we are in desperate need of medical aid. We have over 200 personnel who are injured and the medical staff just can't handle all of it." Sakura all but begged.

"I can send a squad of medical ninjas to provide aid immediately. Just tell me where and guarantee that my people won't be zapped into dust by your ray guns."

"My cousin April here will show them the way. Our ship crashed into Ridu Lake." Naruto said.

"Your cousin?" Hokage Naruto asked, having noticed the red hair, but didn't want to assume anything.

"Long story." Sakura said.

"April Uzumaki-Haruno." April introduced.

"A Haruno as well?" Hokage Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Long story short, all of the clans here in the Leaf also reside on Earth, the home world of the Federation." Sakura informed.

"Is that so..." Hokage Naruto said, leaning forward. "Is there a Federation in this universe?"

"We're...not sure. We can't make contact with Starfleet Command."

"I see. A pity. I would have loved to find another planet where the Uzumaki clan was thriving." Hokage Naruto said.

"Right...now, um...about that medical aid."

"Oh right." Hokage Naruto said before pressing the button on his intercom. "Shikamaru. Get Sakura here on the double. It's urgent."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered as he blew out smoke. "On it."

"Mark it as a double S-Rank medical emergency."

"Double S-Rank? What's going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"We have visitors that you will want to meet as soon as you bring Sakura here with a squad of medical ninjas." Hokage Naruto said.

"Right...I'll get right on that then." Shikamaru said before the intercom went blank.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Leaf hospital, Sakura was in her office looking over x-rays and medical charts when an ANBU agent barged in.

"What the? What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"By order of Lord Hokage, you are to report to his office with a medical team immediately. It's a double S-Rank medical emergency." Bear said.

"Doube S-ranked? Is it about the structure that crashed earlier?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know." Bear said.

Sakura blew her hair out of her face, remembering that rather exciting lunch break.

* * *

 _Sakura was joining her best friend and former teammate Naruto Uzumaki the Seventh Hokage, at their favorite hangout spot from their Team 7 days, Ichiraku's Ramen. For some time now the two of them had made it a tradition to meet up once a week to share lunch and a nice chat together. About their kids, spouses, work, upcoming Chunin Exams, stuff the hospital needed, or just reminiscing about the past. It was nice, and occasionally the best part of their week._

 _"You really need to learn to moderate your Ramen intake, Naruto. Just because you're Hokage now, doesn't mean you can't eat healthy." Sakura scolded him like she did back when she was Chunin._

 _"Hey, if you make healthy food that tastes this good then I will happily eat it." The Hokage said._

 _"Not my job. Doesn't Hinata make good food? I'm more than certain she does."_

 _"She does, but she doesn't make Ichiraku's Ramen." He said. "And what about you? I've heard that your cooking has increased by leaps and bounds."_

 _"That's what Sarada says, but I still think-"_

 _Their conversation was cut short when they felt a massive rumbling all around them, followed by a large shadow blocking out the sun._

 _The two friends quickly dropped their utensils and looked up. their mouths dropped when they saw a massive flying object flying right over their village. Smoke seemed to be pouring out in spots of it as it went straight for Ridu Lake._

 _"Naruto...what in the Hell is that..."_

 _"I have no idea. But they look like they are in trouble." The 35-year-old Naruto said._

 _"You can sense people on that thing?" The 36-year-old Sakura asked._

 _"I can. A lot of people. Some of them chakra users. And... you?" Naruto said._

 _"What? How am I up there?" Sakura asked in confusion._

 _"I have no idea." Naruto said._

* * *

"I was only told to have you and a medical team report to Lord Naruto immediately."

"Alright, thank you, Bear."

Bear flashed away and Sakura rose from her deck and grabbed her pa. "Attention squads one, two and three. Emergency meeting at Lord Hokage's office. Move quickly."

* * *

A few minutes later, Sakura was at the Hokage Tower with her medical team. She made her way up the spiral staircase (and once again wondering why Naruto hadn't bothered to put a freaking elevator in already) where she met Shikamaru at the receptionist's desk.

"I'm here. What is the big emergency?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to find out." Shikamaru said before he and Sakura entered Naruto's office. What they saw was not what they were expecting.

Standing around the Hokage's desk was Naruto, four adults not worth a description, another Naruto, and Sakura. Shikamaru caught a brief glance of a baby laying on the desk being tickled by Hokage Naruto.

Older Sakura took note of the baby on the desk. She had her pink hair...and Naruto's whisker marks.

"Oh...my...God..." She gasped out.

All eyes turned on her. Her Naruto looked especially shocked. "Hey Sakura. So remember when I said I sensed you on that ship?"

"I...am more interested in that child..." Older Sakura said, her eyes still bulging at the mere thought of herself and Naruto's having a child.

"Yeah, she's a cutie. Only two weeks old." Starfleet Naruto said, drawing Medic Sakura over to him briefly.

"Wow..." Older Sakura said as she looked at Chiyo, completely stunned that such a cute baby could come from her and her best friend. Even more so than she was at seeing a younger Naruto standing next to the original in strange clothes. She smiled softly, unable to take her eyes of the baby. "Awww... she's adorable..." She gushed before looking at her Naruto. "We make a really cute baby..."

"That we do." Her Naruto agreed. Not willing to bring himself to say, "Imagine if we had gotten together."

 _'Wow...I never would have imagined that we could make a baby this adorable...almost makes me wish I chose him over Sasuke.'_ Older Sakura thought as she gripped Chiyo's tiny little foot and found it to be ticklish.

 _'Then maybe we might have a decent sex life. Or at least someone to warm our bed.'_ Inner Sakura thought.

 _'Something I intend to find out.'_ Sakura thought back before returning to the real world. "So, what's this about a ship?"

"Our spaceship jumped through a wormhole and crashed here. We have many still injured aboard and we have asked your Hokage for assistance." Younger Sakura said, looking at her older counterpart.

"How many exactly?"

"Over 200 injured. One fatality."

"Then we shouldn't waste time. Lead the way." Older Sakura said.

"April. Lead them back to Ridu lake. I'll inform the Captain." Lt Sakura ordered.

"Sakura, you go with them." Naruto said.

"Huh? Are you sure you can handle Chiyo by yourself?"

"I can handle it. More importantly, they need their best medical officer there. One Sakura could cure everyone's injuries. With two of you there, you might even cure that one guy of his death." Naruto praised. Making both Sakura's feel a little warm in the cheek. This Naruto was certainly a charmer.

"I wouldn't push it that far." Lt Sakura deadpanned before activating her combage. "Sakura to Enterprise."

"Picard here."

"I'm enroute back to the ship with a squad if medics, including my counterpart."

"Understood. Please inform the Seventh Hokage that we are extremely grateful for his help. I will be eager to meet with him later to discuss how we may leave his planet peacefully and quickly." Picard said.

"I look forward to it, Captain." Hokage Naruto said leaning over Starfleet Sakura's shoulder.

"Lieutenant Naruto, I meant the Seventh Hokage." Picard said.

"You're speaking to him. You're Lieutenant is my counterpart."

"Oh." Picard said. "Oh... Naruto...you're..."

"Yup. I'm the Hokage in this world." Naruto smirked.

"I see...this day just keeps getting weirder by the moment..."

"You don't know the half of it." Naruto sighed.

* * *

A few moments later, both Sakura's and the rather large squad of medics sprinted out of the village and were making a B-line to the Enterprise. Since both Sakura's were leading the party, Older Sakura's curiosity got the better of her.

"So...you and Naruto, huh? I gotta say, I did think about it briefly. But I gotta ask...how's the sex life?"

"Even without Kurama, he'd still be a demon in the sheets." Sakura smirked.

Older Sakura's eyes went wide. "How so?"

"Imagine ultimate libido meets unlimited stamina."

"Oh fuck, it's just like Ino always thought." Older Sakura groaned.

"Yup. Honestly, you should have listened to her."

"Shut up. I'm happily married to Sasuke. I'll have you know."

"I find that hard to believe." Lt. Sakura deadpanned. "At least from what I've heard from Sarada."

"I made my choice. It brought me Sarada and I wouldn't trade her for the world. Least of all some ultimate stamina." Older Sakura said.

"I can respect that." Sakura said, thinking of Chiyo, who she could still feel resting against her arms even when she was left in the care of her father.

Then she remembered something. "Wait a minute. Does the CRA exist here?"

"I think so. Nobody uses it though." Older Sakura said. "Why?"

"Well, if everyone is in agreement, it would give you the chance to be with Naruto that you never gave yourself or him."

"Excuse me, I take my marriage vows seriously. We all do." Older Sakura scoffed.

"Hey, I am you, remember? I understand all of that. I'm just saying that it is an option. Plus I'm sure you want more than one child, right?"

"With Sasuke, yes." Older Sakura said firmly, before giving it some thought. "Although...your daughter is as cute as a kitten."

"She is. With the voice of howler monkey whenever she cries."

"Sarada wasn't any different, believe me...hmm...I guess...I can give it some thought."

* * *

Back at the Hokage office, Naruto and the rest of Team Sol were being treated to Ichiraku's Finest Ramen by delivery.

"Wow, this is new and I like it!" Lt. Naruto beamed.

"Yup. Not quite the same as eating it at the stand, but it's every bit as tasty as it was hot out of the pot." Hokage Naruto said as he and his counterpart started on their second bowl.

"Now I can see why you spoke so highly of this. This ramen is amazing." April beamed.

"Ditto. This makes the ramen we have from the replicators taste like cardboard." Sol said as he slurped down his broth.

"Replicator?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"It's one of the many pieces of technology that Starfleet has to offer on their ships." Sol said.

"Okay, but what does it do?"

"Depends on the replicator. There are ones that replicate food and there are those that replicate everything else." Lt. Naruto said.

"So it replicates anything?" Hokage Naruto said.

"Holy shit, I just got that!" Lieutenant Naruto cried.

"I see that Naruto is an idiot in any universe." Shikamaru said.

"Hey!" both Naruto's protested.

"Anyway, I think we need to focus on something more important." Shikamaru said.

"Yes we do." Hokage Naruto said before setting aside his bowl. "Since you've confirmed that the ore we have is what you need, perhaps we can work out some kind of trade."

"Such as?" Lt. Naruto asked.

"Well first, home much of the ore do you need? I can throw you a few grams no problem, but if you need a spaceship's worth, I'm afraid that is going to cost you." Hokage Naruto said.

"I'm not sure on the exact amount, but definitely more than a few grams."

Sol, being not only a pilot but an engineer as well, spoke up. "We need approximately 2 kilo-tons of raw ore."

That made the Hokage and his top advisor pause. "That might be a problem. We've only been able to process one kilo-ton of the stuff. Even with the unprocessed ore, 2 kilo-tons would be all we have."

"According to our ships sensors, the ore is found in great quantities all across the planet. But much of it is in other territories." Sol said.

"We can't go negotiating with every single country to get the amount we need." Dan said.

"No, we can't." Lt Naruto said.

"Then the best course of action is to trade what we have for some of what you have." Hokage Naruto said. "By what you told me, I believe I can give up what we have in exchange for a few things. These replicators you mentioned would be a start."

"Okay, I can make arrangements for some food and matter replicators." Lt. Naruto said.

"Some of your advanced medicine would also be a welcome addition." Shikamaru added.

"We have medical supplies to spare so that won't be an issue." Lt. Naruto said.

"I'm sure your Sakura will be singing its praises by the time she gets back." April smiled.

"For years to come I'm sure." Hokage Naruto grinned.

"Some of your weapons would be greatly appreciated." Shikamaru said.

The Starfleet officers looked at one another, fearing that this would come up.

"Um...we can replicate some bladed weapons. I'm sure we can spare some Klingon blades." Lt Naruto spoke.

"We have bladed weapons in abundance here." Hokage Naruto said. "Even though I'm against incorporating more technology into our ninja ranks, having ray guns could help us on our path to peace."

"No. We can't offer those." Lt Naruto said seriously. "It's against Starfleet protocol. It's basically Federation law, we are forbidden to give other cultures Federation weapons."

"Specifically, non-space fairing cultures." April added. "No offense."

Hokage Naruto sighed, although he was relieved that Starfleet had some restrictions. "What about your propulsion technology?"

"That's a bit of a grey area. I'm not sure we can offer that." Lt Naruto admitted.

"We can't give them warp technology. they have to figure that out on their own." Sol said.

"Well there you go. Hands are tied." Naruto said. The Hokage and Shikamaru shared a quick glance. An understanding passed between them.

"If that's the case, then this is going to make things awkward." The Hokage sighed.

"What do you mean?" Lt. Naruto asked.

"I mean, you should return to your Captain and have him reconsider this Prime Directive of his." The older Naruto said.

"It isn't something that can be reconsidered. The Prime Directive is law."

"Then I'm afraid you won't be receiving any of our ore." The Hokage said.

"Are you serious? The medical technology and the replicators are more than enough." Lt Naruto argued.

"Yes. They would be if we were on equal negotiating grounds. But we are not." Hokage Naruto said, making the room temperature run cold. "You need our ore to get home. You have a very short window to receive this ore. And, so far as I can tell, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for my fellow Elementians. It would be impossible for me to pass up this chance to be handed the secrets to space travel."

"Oh really. And what use do you have for the ore? You have nothing to refine it with, let alone make good use of it."

"That is irrelevant. You need it. And it would be stupid of me to give away another man's treasure just because it's trash to me."

Lt Naruto tapped his combage. "Naruto Captain Picard."

"Would you like some privacy?" The Hokage offered.

Lt Naruto shook his head.

"Go ahead." Picard said.

"We've reached a stalemate in negotiations and need to know what to do next."

"What are their demands?" Picard asked.

"They want replicators and medical technology for starters."

"That's not a problem. We can give them as much as they want in that regard." Picard said.

"They also want the ability to have warp drive."

"Out of the question. It's against the Prime Directive to give non-warp capable planets warp technology." Picard said firmly.

"Well they are saying because we have so little time to fix our ship that we should reconsider or they won't give us anything." Naruto said.

"Then we'll find other means to acquire the ore. The Prime Directive is absolute. Even a law maker like your counterpart should understand that much."

"This isn't law making. This is negotiating." Hokage Naruto said. "You are more than welcome to talk with the other Kages. But I'm afraid you will find them all making similar demands. And they won't be providing you free medical care and food like I am."

"You have to understand our position in this matter. You need to understand and respect our customs and laws just as much as we have to understand and respect yours."

"Wait a minute. Captain, if we're in another universe, does the Prime Directive even have any weight here?" Lt Naruto asked, bringing up a very valid point.

Picard paused to consider what Naruto said while everyone else waited impatiently. "That is an interesting point, Lieutenant. I will have to discuss this with the senior officers. We may be able to give them blueprints on how to create a warp core, but without a space worthy ship to put it in, it's almost useless."

"You say almost useless. What other uses does a warp core have?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"An antimatter core is also a power source." Sol said. "But antimatter is very unstable. If you don't know how to care for it properly, you risk having your entire village destroyed in a matter of seconds."

"Well I trust you wouldn't give us such a power source without careful instructions on how to use it. I know my counterpart would never out lives at risk like that." The Hokage said.

Picard sighed. "We'll discuss this at a later time. There is more to having a warp core than just simply knowing how to take care of it."

"Then we might as well ask for your ship technology as well." The Hokage said.

"We can't give you that. We don't have the resources to spare in that regard."

"You said we have an abundance of those resources. We would just need the blueprints."

"I'll discuss it with my senior officers. but just be forewarned. Even with the blueprints, it would take you several decades to even begin working on a prototype."

"That would still be faster than the centuries it would take to discover it on our own."

"Believe it or not, you already have all the materials you need." Sol said. "You also have the Dilithium."

Hokage Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Dilithium?"

"Okay, everyone, quit weakening our negotiating position!" April shouted.

"Quiet." Hokage Naruto ordered before readdressing Sol. "What's Dilithium?"

"It's a type of crystal that is used as a key component in a warp core. They would appear as a purple crystal to you."

"Shikamaru, didn't we discover an entire deposit of purple crystals not that long ago?"

"We did. But everyone thought they were just gems and a lot of it has been used as jewelry." Shikamaru confirmed.

"Yeah, didn't you give Temari one those gems as a necklace for her birthday?"

"I did, at least I believe I did. She loved it." Shikamaru said before looking at Sol. "Are the crystals harmful?"

"No, they merely act as a catalyst in the matter antimatter reaction." Sol said.

"They sound harmful." Hokage Naruto said.

"They're not. They maintain the matter antimatter reaction in a warp core and keep the core from exploding. the crystals as they are, are harmless. But crystals used in a warp core would contain antimatter radiation that is very harmful, almost lethal. Unused crystals are about as harmless as maple syrup."

"Alright. Will you be needing any Dilithium for your ship repairs?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"No. We have some crystals in storage." Picard said.

"Very well. If there is nothing else, I believe we are done here for now." Hokage Naruto said.

"Very well. Picard out."

"Naruto, I hope you don't think any less of me. But I am doing this for the greater good of my village and for Element." Hokage Naruto said.

Lt Naruto didn't answer. All he did was tap his combadge. "Naruto to Enterprise. 5 to beam over." In an instant, Naruto and Team Sol dematerialized and were now completely out of sight.

"I think you might be asking for too much, buddy." Shikamaru said.

"I don't think I am. This is a chance to propel our planet into the future by several centuries. But I don't trust these people." Naruto said seriously. "Triple up village security. If I know myself as well as I think I do, he'll try to do something really reckless."

"Who says you haven't gotten smarter." Shikamaru said.


	23. Chapter 23: Back to the Past

**Author's Note from Panda: Shoot, I forgot to thank Bradw316 for beta reading this and the previous chapter. Better late than never I guess.**

* * *

Back on the Enterprise, Picard had called an emergency meeting between all his head officers.

"Naruto has got us by the balls on this one." Riker summed up.

"Quite right..." Picard mused. "Any suggestions?"

"Give him what he wants?" Geordi suggested. "We need that ore immediately or we are never getting home. Not in our lifetime anyway."

"It is against the Prime Directive." Worf said.

"About that. Our Naruto had a valid point." Picard started. "We could very well be the only Federation ship in this universe. that being said, the Prime Directive may not exist here."

"The Prime Directive was created to safeguard less technologically advanced cultures from destroying themselves with advanced technology. If we give them warp technology we are inviting the same risks." Crusher argued.

"I'm well aware of that, Doctor. I have made the same point painfully clear to this universes Ninja. However, if we want to make it home before our window of opportunity collapses, we may not have a choice."

"I would think you would be the most vocal about maintaining the Prime Directive at any cost." Crusher said.

"We could give them fake warp technology. Enough that it looks like the real McCoy until we can make our repairs and escape to our universe." Riker suggested.

Picard considered it for a moment and shook his head. "No. That would almost ensure their destruction. These people are also a lot smarter than they appear."

"Yeah, we could have told you that." Sakura said.

"I'm so mad at myself right now." Naruto said.

"What would you suggest?" Picard asked Naruto.

Naruto seemed to snap back to attention. "We can't give him the warp technology. If it leads this planet to ruin, I won't allow that to happen."

"Here here." Sakura said.

Picard considered this. "Geordi, Data, when is the absolute deadline that you would need the Titanium in order to repair the ship? How long do we have to negotiate?"

"We could afford a day...maybe two at most." Geordi said.

"The wormhole collapse has not changed in speed." Data said.

"How long would it take for them to ship all 2 kilo-tons to us?" Troi asked.

"It would be fair to expect a day." Sakura admitted.

"So we absolutely have to reach a deal by tomorrow." Riker said.

"It won't happen." Naruto said. "My counterpart is firm on his decision and will not accept no for an answer."

"Couldn't we just give them a non-functional core from one of our type 7 shuttles that got destroyed in the crash?" Sakura asked.

"That would reduce the risk of danger significantly." Riker mused.

"It would reduce the immediate risk of casualties by 74.8 percent." Data confirmed.

"We're not putting anyone's life in danger." Naruto stated firmly. He might not have had the authority to dictate that, but no one was going to argue with his moral compass.

Picard inhaled deeply. "Naruto...do you remember when Ambassador Spock came aboard our ship when it was launched? He coined the Vulcan phrase, 'The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few.'

"Do you know how many people live in the Leaf?" Naruto asked. "Because I asked my counterpart. He tells me millions."

Sakura's eyes went wide.

"We are the few in this instance." Naruto said.

"Well, wait a minute. Maybe there is another way." Sakura spoke up.

All eyes turned on the Medical Lieutenant.

"Let's just give him the secrets to creating warp drive."

"We just finished arguing about why we can't do that." Riker said.

"Let me finish Commander. We put the blueprints and data pertaining to creating warp in a box with a special combination lock that will only open when they solve a complex equation. One that only those of us here can solve." Sakura explained.

"You mean as a test for their people. If they can solve the equation, they can be trusted with warp technology." Crusher summarized.

"Exactly. Think of it as a highly advanced Rubix Cube." Sakura said proudly.

"I could create such an equation that would be essential for utilizing warp drive propulsion." Data said.

"The proper intermix ratio to a stable warp field." Geordi suggested.

"That could also work. An answer they could type in with a number pad." Sakura said.

Picard nodded. "Data, get to work on that."

"Yes, Captain." Data said.

"God, I love your big, beautiful brain." Naruto praised. He loved it when Sakura showed off her smartness.

Sakura smirked and winked at Naruto.

Picard stood up and straightened his uniform. "If that is all, Naruto, Sakura, with me. Everyone else is dismissed."

The rest of the commanders nodded before standing up and heading out the door. Leading Naruto and Sakura to believe that they were in for another scolding.

"I believe I still owe you two that steak dinner." Picard smirked lightly.

They both blinked before Naruto remembered something. "You promised us that...a year ago?"

"Was it that long? Well, I guess this is well overdo. Come with me to my quarters. There are other matters we need to discuss."

"Hey, are you sure you don't want to join us for some Ichiraku's Ramen? We gotta show you this." Naruto said.

"Oh, no thank you. Oriental never agreed with me."

"You're gonna want to give this one a second chance." Naruto insisted.

"Not today, Naruto. Maybe another day."

"Swear to Sage, fine. But the day we get back to our Element, whenever that day comes. You are eating at Ichiraku's with us. Everybody is." Naruto decided.

Picard chuckled. "And when did you become Captain?"

"Hey, who's the Hokage here?"

"Not you." Sakura teased.

"Closest thing we've got."

"Yeah..." Sakura sighed.

"Alright, as the Hokage on deck, I suppose we can sample this steak dinner." Naruto said.

"Splendid. I believe I still have a bottle of the old vintage as well."

"Cool. We'll go grab Chiyo and meet you there." Naruto said.

"Clean up a little bit while you're at it. Your uniforms look dirty." Picard smirked before taking his leave.

"We were kind of in a ship crash." Sakura said.

"I just hope the showers still work." Naruto said before sniffing his pits and then turning green.

"Same...hey, let's have a quickie before going to get Chiyo." Sakura smirked. Naruto sputtered. It had been so long that it was surprising that she would suggest it out of the blue like that. He actually froze in place.

"Well...?" Sakura pressed, rubbing her leg against his crotch.

"Do you want it before or after the shower." Naruto said, regaining his mojo.

"During." She whispered into his ear.

Naruto wrapped her up in a hug and Thunder God Flashed them both back to their quarters.

"Undress me with your teeth..." Sakura whispered.

"Anything for you, my insatiable vixen." Naruto smirked as he found the zipper to her officer's outfit and found his nose tracing down her sides. Inhaling her musty skin finally exposed to the outside world. It was more intoxicating than anything Picard kept in cold storage.

"Skip the foreplay and get me out of this uniform..."

"No. We foxes like to savor our food." Naruto said as his fingers slipped their way into her pants.

As soon as he touched her the right way, she squealed. It had been too long since she had this feeling.

"You know something great about having children that no one ever talks about?" Naruto asked as he pushed Sakura up against the wall and buried his face in her breasts.

"Mhn...w-what..."

"Your boobs get bigger." Naruto said as he relished feeling their soft squishy goodness pressed against his eyes and forehead.

"Mmmm...yeah...y-ya know...my counterpart...is j-jealous of me..."

"Don't think about her right now." Naruto said. "Think about me."

"I-I'm...saying because...oh god...she wants...you..."

"She wants me? Specifically?" Naruto asked giddily. The prospect of having two different Sakura's in bed with him excited him. He could see them both now, on the bed, kneeling, their bodies facing each other but both their eyes on him. This older Sakura was definitely a bit more plump than his Sakura, but that just meant there was more to love.

"Well...she is considering it. The Sasuke in this world isn't around a lot."

"I mean, I'd do anything for you, Sakura-chan. But she's married."

"She's also from a different universe."

"That doesn't matter."

"Need I also remi-hiiind...oh right there..." Sakura stumbled over her words when Naruto inserted two fingers into her dripping wet folds.

"No more talking about hypothetical. Let's focus on the physical." Naruto whispered.

"Hmhmmmm..." Sakura moaned. God she missed this.

* * *

After close to an hour, a much needed shower and an even more needed personal time, Sakura and Naruto emerged from their quarters both feeling more refreshed than they have in months.

"Now where is Chiyo?" Naruto asked.

"With the Adams." Sakura smiled, her red evening gown swishing around as she walked.

Naruto grinned as she walked. Sakura always looked beautiful in anything she wore, but this dress, it had a little tail made of a sash that really complimented the motion of her caboose.

"Wait a minute, I just remembered something." Sakura spoke up.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, his eyes still hypnotized by her walk.

"There is no place to set Chiyo down in Picard's quarters."

"Does the ship not have baby seats? Actually, is Chiyo old enough for a high chair?" Naruto said before thinking about it. "No, she's not. What am I thinking?"

"Shit...we didn't even think of this..." Sakura cursed.

"Let me send a clone to grab one of our seats from our room." Naruto said.

"Alright, you do that. Let's just go grab Chiyo and head to our dinner." Sakura said.

Naruto nodded and created a single clone to go grab Chiyo's seat while they continued on to the Adam's quarters. Luckily, they weren't far. They were just around the corridor down the hall from their living quarters. Sakura rang the doorbell that chimed on the other side.

"Enter!" They heard Jack call from the other side. Naruto and Sakura walked in to see Amanda Adams cradling a crying Chiyo.

"Uh-oh...sounds like someone is cranky." Sakura smiled as she walked over and carefully took Chiyo from Amanda.

"Have you seen Sally? She's been gone a while." Jack asked.

"No, we haven't." Sakura said.

"Where did she say she was going?" Naruto asked.

"She said she wanted to see the village but hasn't come back yet." Amanda informed, alarming Naruto and Sakura almost immediately.

"Oh crap, it's getting dark." Naruto said, quickly loosening his tie.

Sakura tapped her combadge. "Sakura to Picard."

"Sakura...I expected you almost half an hour ago." Picard said good naturedly.

"The dinner is going to have to wait. We have an emergency." Sakura informed seriously before handing Chiyo back to Amanda. "Sally Adams is missing. Reports from her parents indicate that she may have gone to the Leaf Village."

"I'm going searching for her." Naruto said as he sprinted outside while leaving behind a Shadow Clone to gather Nature Chakra for him.

"Both of you go. You know this planet far better than we do. If you need additional assistance, let me know." Picard said.

"Understood. Sakura out." Sakura took off running after Naruto to help search. If she was hurt, she would need immediate medical attention.

By the time Naruto had leapt out of the ship to the surface of the lake his Shadow Clone had killed itself, transferring all its Sage chakra to Naruto, allowing him to activate his Sage mode and begin to sense everything in his surroundings. Just like he feared, Sally wasn't anywhere near the ship, but she was a smart enough kid not to get lost when looking for a city. Curse her for begging to be taught how to walk on water and leap through trees. She could be anywhere in the city by now.

"Naruto wait up!" Sakura called out to him, noting that he was pulling away from her.

"Sakura, she's gotta be at the village by now! I can't sense her anywhere else!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura dug deep and poured on the speed.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in the maze-like alleyways of the Hidden Leaf Village, one little girl was having the time of her life jumping from one wall to another.

"Wa-hoooo!" Sally screamed as she built up enough momentum to leap over the bustling city street. Over dozens of dinnertime shoppers. She then started wall running on the side of the next alley over. Bobbing and weaving through the fire escapes. Ever since she had mastered the tree climbing technique she had been taught by Sakura on how to use her chakra to do all kinds of tricks. From walking on water to leaping higher than any adult ever could. She could even hang upside down without worry. And this city, it was jungle gym for people who knew the tricks that Sally knew. After months on end of being stuck inside the glorified tin can called the Enterprise, this was heaven.

"Hey kid, get down from there!" One disgruntled shopkeeper shouted.

Sally quickly leapt off the wall and headed deeper into the city. She didn't want to get in trouble with her parents, but surely, they wouldn't miss her if she was only gone for...however long she was gone for. She honestly hadn't kept track. Although it was getting dark...

"Oh hey, a park." She said aloud at the sight of a break from all the buildings was a three-block section of thick forest. In the center of that, was a spot cleared of all trees, but filled with the coolest looking playground that Sally had ever seen.

The inner child in Sally couldn't help herself. It had been ages since she had been on the swings and they were calling her name. Thankfully they were all free. Save for that one at the very end with that moopey looking girl in the pink hoodie.

The girl in the pink hoodie looked up at the sound of a new set of footsteps coming towards her.

"Hi, my name's Sally." Sally smiled, her blue and green eyes flashing with the light of the street lamps.

"Himawari..." The girl said sadly.

"Hi Himawari. What'cha doin' out here?" Sally asked as she jumped back into the swing next to Himawari so that they could better talk.

"My big brother is mad at me..." Himawari sniffed.

"What? Why is he mad?" Sally asked, so very heartbroken.

"I don't know...he came home and I greeted him like I always do and he yelled at me..."

"Well that was mean of him." Sally declared as she kicked out her feet to start swinging.

"But he's never like that...not to me..."

"Then why'd he do that? You didn't do anything wrong." Sally said, pondering this conundrum.

"I...I didn't?" Himawari asked, pulling off her hood.

"Not as far as I can tell. He was just being stupid. Sakura always tells me that boys can be stupid a lot. But we can't hold it against them." Sally said as she swung to the highest point.

"Sakura-san said that?" Himawari asked, surprised this unknown girl with the strange name even knew who the village's Head Medic was.

"Yeah. Do you know her? She's my best friend." Sally said before leaping off the swings and landing a corkscrew backflip on the landing.

"She's the Head Medic of Konoha...but I've never seen you before."

"I'm new in town." Sally said, trying to remember the Prime Directive that she was always taught in school. She looked over to get a good look at Himawari's face and nearly gasped. On her cheeks were two distinctive whisker marks.

"Hey I know those marks!" Sally exclaimed, pointing at Himawari's face.

"My birthmarks?" Himawari asked. "Yeah, everyone does. My daddy is the Hokage."

"No, I've seen those on Naruto. My other best friend." Sally declared.

"I know. He's my daddy."

"He's your daddy, no way!" Sally exclaimed. "He never told me he had a daughter. Er, or a second daughter." She smiled brightly. This was awesome. She loved seeing Chiyo, and now Chiyo had an older sister. And a brother too. Sally could meet them both.

"Huh? He doesn't." Himawari said in confusion.

"Yes he does. Where have you been? He had Chiyo like forever ago." Sally said.

"Who's Chiyo?" Himawari asked. "I think you got my daddy confused with someone else."

"No. Naruto has three whisker marks on his cheeks. And Chiyo has three whisker marks too. Sakura told me it wasn't genetics. That had more to do with her hair." Sally said.

"Her what?" Himawari asked.

"Genetics. Its that stuff that help mixes up parts of your mommy and daddy to make you. Although its weird. If you are Naruto's daughter, why do you only have two whisker marks?"

"I don't know." Himawari said as she self-consciously rubbed her cheeks.

"Well whatever, do you want to play tag?"

"Um, I guess so." Himawari decided.

Sally ran up to Himawari and booped her on the nose. "Tag, you're it."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the village not too far away, Himawari's mother, Hinata, was searching frantically for her youngest child, worried sick for her safety.

"Ow, Mom, let go!" Boruto cried as Hinata dragged him through the streets by the ear.

"No buts! You shouted at your sister for no reason and made her run away!" Hinata snapped.

"I didn't mean to!"

"No, but once again you let your temper get the better of you. You'd better hope and pray that Himawari is alright." Hinata lectured.

"I do, I do!" Boruto insisted, truly. If anything happened to his baby sister because of him. He felt sick to his stomach. Mom could rip his ear off and it would hurt less.

Hinata activated her Byakugan again to scan their surroundings. The dense urban jungle always made using her All-seeing eye difficult. There were just so many walls and so many people that spotting any one was like looking for a needle in a scrap metal pile.

Her vision caught a break when she was a couple of blocks from 3 Block Park, one of the laziestly named Parks in the entire downtown area. She immediately zeroed in on two girls playing with one another. One of them was a girl maybe 7 or 8, with blond hair and strange clothes that Hinata had never seen before. The other was...

"Himawari!" Hinata cried, even though from the outside it looked like she was staring at a concrete wall.

"You found her?" Boruto exclaimed.

"I did. The 3 Block Park." Hinata said as she leapt into the air.

Boruto followed closely behind her as they navigated through the streets. Even when the park was in sight Hinata didn't relax. Not until her baby was safely in her arms. That was when she noticed two figures leaping into the park ahead of her. Both familiar looking. One with a head of pink hair and the other a head of spiky blond hair.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? Dad's here?" Boruto asked as the two of them rushed to the playground. Expecting to see Naruto and Sakura surrounding Himawari with concerned hugs. Instead they saw the two of them ignoring Himawari completely and embracing the other girl.

"Naruto-kun! What are you doing?!" Hinata snapped, enraged that he would ignore their daughter, whom Hinata embraced with relief that she was okay.

"Huh? Hinata?" Naruto exclaimed, looking at her like he hadn't seen her for a year. And not under great circumstances.

Hinata saw Naruto and immediately noticed that he looked a lot different than this morning. It was almost like he got several years younger.

"Hinata, wait, it's not what you think." Naruto said as Hinata noticed Sakura was wearing a cocktail gown. Something way more risqué than Hinata ever knew her to wear. And what was she doing with Naruto? Her husband.

"A-are you CHEATING ON ME?!" Hinata shouted, her face emanating pure rage.

Naruto and Sakura backed up. Neither one of them had ever seen Hinata so furious. They didn't even know she could do furious. For the first time since the Chunin Exams, Naruto felt fear underneath the gaze of the Byakugan.

"How could you? And with Sakura of all people. Sakura, I never suspected this from you. My friend!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Mom, it's not what you think!" Boruto shouted, coming to the two Starfleet officer's rescue.

"We've been together for 15 years! Two children! And you're just throwing it all away to be with your old flame?!" Hinata shouted, her anger beginning to boil over. She looked at Sakura with utter hatred. For this, she was going to spill blood tonight.

"MOM!" Boruto shouted.

"WHAT?!" Hinata snapped.

"That's not dad or Mrs. Uchiha! They're from another universe!"

"A wha-?" Hinata exclaimed before taking another look at the duo. They were still Naruto and Sakura, without a doubt, but they were both at least a decade younger. And looking closer, Hinata saw that Naruto's right hand wasn't bandaged. He was also much younger than her Naruto with longer hair. A quick glance with her Byakugan confirmed that they weren't wearing a transformation jutsu. He was Naruto, but he wasn't her Naruto. Naruto wasn't cheating on her.

"Oh...oh dear... I'm... I'm so sorry about that..." Hinata blushed, completely embarrassed at her actions.

"It's alright." The not Naruto said, relaxing his guard just a bit.

"Naruto, do you know this scary lady?" Sally asked, pointing at Hinata.

Hinata felt like burying herself into the biggest hole she could find she was so mortified.

"That is Hinata." Naruto said. "Our old friend."

"Isn't she the lady you dumped like hot garbage?" Sally asked, reciting what she had heard in school from her other friends.

"I...I what...?" Hinata gasped out.

"Sally, no, I wouldn't word it that way." Naruto faltered.

"Wait a minute..." Hinata spoke up, getting Naruto's attention. "Are we...not together where you're from...?" She choked out.

"We...were together." Naruto tried to explain.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Himawari asked, thinking she heard her parents say that they weren't together anymore.

"Nothing, sis. I'll explain everything later." Boruto said.

Sakura sighed heavily. "Maybe this isn't a conversation to have in front of children."

"I'm sorry. We have to go." Hinata said as she took Himawari and Boruto's hands and dragged them away. Not before seeing the matching wedding rings on Naruto and Sakura's fingers.

"Hinata, wait!" Naruto shouted with that same voice that Hinata knew so well. She couldn't help herself, she stopped dead in her tracks. He sounded just like her husband, it tugged at her heart.

"Please, Hinata, join us on our ship. We can explain everything to you there." Naruto begged.

"Ship?" Hinata asked in confusion.

Sakura nodded before tapping her combadge that Boruto had seen already, but Hinata had no idea what it was. "Sakura to Enterprise. 6 to beam directly to our quarters."

"Wait, hold on." Naruto said as he quickly drew a Thunder God seal on the ground. It glowed a golden yellow before vanishing. "That run through the woods is getting annoying."

"Alright. Transport." Sakura ordered. In an instant, all six of them were surrounded by a blue light before dematerializing and reappearing inside a rather large and spacious living room.

"Whoa!" Boruto exclaimed.

"Naruto, have a clone take Sally back to her parents and bring Chiyo home." Sakura said.

"Chiyo?" Himawari asked.

"Our daughter." Sakura informed.

"Can I get her instead?" Sally asked.

"Your parents are worried sick about you. I think it's best that you go home so they aren't so worried." Sakura suggested.

"But I didn't mean to. I just wanted to see your village."

"It's not our village, Sally. Ever heard of multiverse theory?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah...I think I have."

"We are in another universe. One where Naruto and I didn't get together." Sakura said.

"Oh...so this isn't really your village then."

"No. Not technically."

"Oh..." Sally said, disappointed that she didn't get to see their actual village and upset that she worried her parents for nothing.

"One day we'll introduce you to our village, Sally. We promise." Sakura swore.

Sally nodded and smiled.

"Come along, you." Naruto chuckled before creating a single clone that escorted Sally back. Leaving them alone with the alternative Uzumaki family. Who looked around at the smooth and futuristic apartment. Even with it shaken up from the crash landing, it was like something out of a movie.

"You guys hungry?" Sakura asked.

"I was about to make dinner." Hinata said.

"What were you going to make?" Sakura asked before showing Hinata the replicator. "This thing can literally make almost anything."

"I was going to make ramen. Naruto's favorite." Hinata said. Lt. Naruto involuntarily licked his lips.

"Weren't we going to a steak dinner?" Naruto asked, remembering their captain's offer.

"Picard and I rescheduled." Sakura waved off.

"So, how does this work?" Hinata asked.

"Computer, large bowl of Ramen. Naruto number 3." Sakura ordered. In an instant, a large bowl of Miso ramen with extra pork appeared in the food slot that had all of the trimmings that Naruto had come to expect with his favorite dish.

"It's no Ichiraku's Ramen. But it's still good." Naruto praised, being the authority on ramen.

"Well if it has your praise then it must be good." Hinata smiled before taking the bowl and trying a bite. Sure enough, it was delicious. Even better than she could make. Not that she was going to admit that.

"Sakura, remind me to get Ichiraku's recipes for our Replicators." Naruto said.

"We probably could while we're here. I'm sure Teuchi can give me a copy." Sakura said.

"Oh...about that...Teuchi died 3 years ago here." Hinata informed.

"Oh..." Naruto said sadly. "How did he die?"

"Old age. He was 82." Hinata said as her eyes gazed down.

Sakura sighed sadly. "Yeah...that will do it..."

"I see. He was always so kind to me." Naruto said, remembering all the times that he gave him discounted ramen when Naruto couldn't quite pay.

"Well our Teuchi is still alive I'm sure." Sakura consoled.

"True, but it's a different universe." Hinata said.

"Hey what else can this thing make?" Boruto asked.

"Everything." Sakura said.

"What would you like?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm..." Boruto said as he thought about it carefully. then he came up with something that he rarely ever got. "Fillet Minon."

Sakura widened her eyes. "Wow...someone has expensive tastes."

"We've taken him to some state dinners." Hinata admitted, smiling slightly.

"Ah...makes sense." Sakura nodded as Boruto's dinner appeared. It was a small, round piece of beef with the outer edge wrapped in bacon, sizzling like it was hot off the pan.

"Here you go." Sakura said, handing him the dish.

Boruto also noticed that his plate was garnished with carrots and asparagus. "Niiice!" He cut into his beef and his knife sank threw it like fresh bread.

"Yes, it may not look like it now, but this is actually a luxury vessel designed to house ambassadors from other planets. So we get the most comfortable living quarters and amenities." Sakura said.

"I figured the crash might have had something to do with it." Hinata said as she sat at the table with Boruto with her dinner.

"I want a cheeseburger!" Himawari chirped happily, showing off Naruto's signature smile. Making her look like ten pounds of cute in a five-pound bag.

"You've got it, sweetie." Sakura said. "Do you want fries too?" She added.

"Yeah! With ketchup!"

"She likes it spread all over her fries instead of dipping them." Hinata elaborated.

Sakura giggled. "Child's size cheeseburger with fries. Ketchup on the fries." Sakura ordered.

"PLEASE SPECIFY DONENESS OF MEAT." the computer said.

"Well done." Sakura clarified. In an instant, Himawari's dinner was ready.

"Here you go." Sakura said as she presented the dish like an expert waitress.

"Yay!" Himawari beamed as she went to sit at the table.

"Welp!" Naruto stretched his arms. "I think I've earned a snack." He said before standing up and heading for the replicator. "A plate of Hasparat."

"A plate of...what?" Hinata asked.

"Oh God..." Sakura groaned.

Naruto smirked. "Hasparat. It's this alien dish that we've grown to love during our time aboard the Enterprise."

"Haspar...what is it?" Boruto asked as a plate with 3 items that looked like veggie wraps appeared in the food slot.

"It comes from the planet Bajor. It's a Bajoran delicacy that for some reason, Naruto loves. Personally, I prefer the Tholian Chocolate Mousse." Sakura said, nearly drooling.

"Ooh, I wanna try that." Himawari said, her mouth wide open.

"Sure, once you finish your burger." Sakura smiled.

"Let me try this...alien wrap." Boruto said before taking one off Naruto's plate.

"Um...I would be careful with that." Sakura warned.

"I can handle it." Boruto said bravely.

Sakura held up her hands. "Alright..."

"What's wrong with it?" Hinata asked.

"It's very spicy." Sakura warned.

"I can handle it." Boruto said before taking a huge bite.

A whole two seconds passed before it turned out that he couldn't handle it.

At first he found the flavors to be quite exotic. It was nothing he had ever had before. Then the spice hit him.

"Oh...ow..." He said as the heat from the spices really kicked. "Ow!"

Upon seeing the boy's cheeks go red, Sakura knew it was time to make another order. "A glass of cow's milk. Ice cold." She requested from the replicator.

"OW!" Boruto cried.

The replicator created a tall glass of milk where Sakura promptly took it and gave it to the poor boy.

Once he was done, he let out a heavy gasp and put the evil wrap back on Naruto's plate, nearly running away from it. "The hell is that crap?!"

"Language young man!" Hinata snapped.

Sakura sweatdropped. "I tried to warn you..."

"I should have warned you more. I'm sorry. It's just a running gag around here." Naruto chuckled with a pinch of sympathy. "Sakura reacted the same way the first time she tried it."

"Yeah, don't remind me..." Sakura grumbled.

"I could always give you some Ro'Keg Blood Pie." Naruto smirked.

"No! No more alien food!" Boruto exclaimed, still sweating from the Hasparat.

"No. You'd like this. It'll give you experience for any meals you might have if you join the ANBU." Naruto said.

"Blood...pie? Is that like a play on words?" Hinata asked.

"Nope. It's exactly how it sounds." Naruto said.

"I wanna try it!" Himawari proclaimed.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You sure? It's pretty strong stuff."

"Well if Daddy likes it then I wanna try it. And I wanna be an ANBU agent one day." Himawari said.

Sakura looked at Hinata and she shrugged. "She likes to try a lot of new food."

"Alright then." Sakura sighed before returning to the replicator. "One small slice of Ro'Keg blood pie."

The dish appeared, looking like the insides of some poor animal had been ripped out and marinated in thick blood.

"Oh that looks nasty..." Hinata said in disgust.

"It's making me nostalgic for my ANBU missions if I'm honest." Sakura said.

"It actually tastes better than it looks." Naruto assured before Sakura handed the pie slice to Himawari.

Himawari took a fork and scooped herself up a bite. She coughed a bit. "It's salty..."

"A little bit, but its good, right?" Naruto asked.

"It's different...but I like it."

Naruto smiled that trademark grin of his. "I'm glad. We can leave your mother the recipe and she can make it for you if you want."

"Um...no thanks..." Hinata sweatdropped.

"Well, the replicators we're sending will have it programmed in." Sakura said.

Great." Hinata said, not looking forward to her daughter ending every meal looking like she had just ripped out the throat of a deer with her own teeth.

Sakura then turned to the 36-year-old Hinata, who was still giving her uneasy looks. "Hinata, would you like anything special? It's no trouble at all."

"Can you give me papaya juice?" Hinata asked, it being her favorite drink from when she and Naruto went on their honeymoon. Her guilty pleasure.

"Not a problem. With ice and a little umbrella?" Sakura asked.

"Please..."

Sakura smiled and made the drink to order. Then handed it to Hinata all in the same breath.

Hinata smiled with gratitude and took a sip. "Mmm...tasty."

"How did you get onto something like this?" Boruto asked.

"Hmmm, well I guess the long and short of it is that in our universe, there is a United Federation of space fairing planets. They explore the unknown reaches of the universe. Our government, the Hidden Leaf village, made a deal with the Federation, otherwise known as Starfleet to supply them with two experienced shinobi in exchange for advancements in technology. Medical equipment, radios, stuff like that. Naruto and I were the latest two ninjas to be chosen as we were the most skilled ninjas still living in the village." Sakura explained.

"Sakura and I were serving as ANBU agents at the time." Naruto added.

"Did this lead to you two getting together?" Hinata asked, a little sourly at the aspect that herself and Naruto didn't marry in their universe.

"I think it's better if I explain that..." Naruto sighed. "Hinata, it was never anything against you, but there were just some things in life that I wanted from you, that I need from you, that you wouldn't give me. We broke up and got back together a few times, but in reality, we just didn't have anything in common. Our last break up was initiated by you, well...our universes you. We both agreed that things just weren't working out and we went our separate ways. We had no hard feelings towards one another."

"I see..." Hinata said as she looked into her papaya juice.

"And what about you and Sasuke-sensei?" Boruto asked.

Sakura sighed, being careful to choose her words that would be appropriate for children. "We uh...we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things and I was tired of being alone. I broke up with him when I left for this mission."

"Oh...yeah, that makes sense." Boruto said, just as the doors slide open to reveal Naruto's Shadow Clone holding a bundle in his hands.

"Is that my Chiyo?" Sakura beamed.

"No. I lost her so I just grabbed another baby." The clone joked.

"If you did I'd have to kill your boss." Sakura joked back.

"What did I do?" Naruto asked as Boruto and Himawari laughed.

Naruto's clone handed Chiyo over to Sakura and she uncovered her head. "There's my little angle..." Chiyo opened her eyes to look at Sakura and gave a resounding yawn. Melting Sakura's heart.

"She has your hair!" Himawari pointed out.

"Yes she does." Sakura laughed. "Come over here you two."

"Huh? But I've already seen her." Boruto said.

"No, you haven't. You sulked at Naruto the entire way to the village. You didn't look at her." Sakura said.

Boruto sighed and joined his sister who had already run up to Sakura to look at Chiyo. "Brother, brother! You gotta see this!" Himawari said.

Boruto looked down, past the blanket and the pink hair and saw something that took his breath away. Whisker marks, the same ones that he, his sister, and his father all had. And only them. The kind granted to those that had been touched by Kurama's chakra. The young Genin couldn't explain it, but his heart swelled at seeing this. When Chiyo turned her blue eyes on him. He felt himself blushing. She was just so cute and innocent. He had only ever felt this way about one other person so far in his life.

"She's so cute." Himawari said.

"She's your half-sister." Sakura smiled. "From another dimension of course, but she's still your sister."

"She really is..." Boruto breathed out, right before giving Naruto the stink eye. "Whether you are my dad or not, if you neglect her like dad does with us, I will do anything to cross into your dimension and beat you into the ground."

"Kid, I would let you if I ever did something like that. No child of mine will ever feel the neglect I felt growing up." Naruto promised.

"Then do her and your future kids a favor. Don't become Hokage." Boruto said firmly.

Naruto paused to consider this. Normally he was snap at anyone saying he shouldn't become Hokage. But if this lead him to being a horrible father. If he ended up neglecting Chiyo like he supposedly did with Boruto and Himawari in this universe. Was it actually worth it?

"If Naruto didn't try to become Hokage, he wouldn't be the man I love." Sakura said, rescuing Naruto. "And I think you would agree with me, Hinata."

Hinata looked at Sakura, and an air of understanding passed between them. A kind of sisterhood of those who had fallen for the man standing between them. "Yes, that's right."

"There ya go." Sakura said, making Naruto smile.

"Although...I still would have supported him and I wouldn't love him any differently if he didn't become Hokage." Hinata added.

"As would I. That's not the point. It's just not in his nature to give up so easily. Or to be anything less than an inspiring hero." Sakura said.

"No it is not." Hinata said.

"Grr...I don't care what makes my dad so great! A great man should never neglect his family for a stupid job!" Boruto protested.

"No, he shouldn't." Naruto said, breaking his silence. "I know he hates it every time he has to abandon his family. It's the same way I feel every time I have to leave Sakura-chan alone to save the Enterprise. Or whenever I had sacrifice for the greater good. It tears me up inside. Just wanting to be selfish for once." Naruto gripped his fist. "But I can't."

"What's more important? A family who wants you in their lives or a stupid job?!" Boruto spat.

"Saving the lives of your family. And many others. As is the way of the ninja." Naruto stated.

"Oh save it! Ya know, there are a lot of times I wished I wasn't born as the son of the Hokage and I'm sure your kids will feel the same way. You just wait and see." Boruto snapped before making his way to the door. "I'm going home."

"You're not gonna get far without my escort!" Naruto shouted.

"Just watch me." Boruto said before turning the corner and disappearing down the hallway. Leaving a very angry and exhausted Naruto pacing in his living room. No one had ever pissed Naruto off so easily and left him so angry. Not since Sasuke anyway.

"Is he really always like this?" Naruto asked Hinata.

Hinata sighed heavily. "Most of the time, yes... Naruto always has to work late and Boruto always takes it really hard. It made it worse when Naruto had to work late during Himawari's birthday party and he sent a Shadow Clone in his stead. But...it dispelled while it was carrying over her cake and it fell on the floor, ruining it."

"Okay, please tell me you smacked him upside the head for that one. Because unless the freaking Daimyo was making a surprise visit that day I see no reason why he couldn't have left a Shadow Clone in his place at work." Naruto said before jogging over to the door to run after Boruto.

"I didn't...and he is forbidden to use shadow clones for office work." Hinata admitted.

"That is so dumb I can't even deal with it." Naruto said as he ran after Boruto. Thankfully the Enterprise was confusing enough to navigate that it slowed the young man down long enough for Naruto to find him and smack him upside the head. "You're a real brat, you know that?"

"Screw you! You don't know anything about me!" Boruto snapped, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"Oh yeah? I know that you have a loving mother, an adoring sister, a home to live in, parents to take care of you, homemade meals for every dinner, and contrary to what you might think, a father who is alive and loves you with all his heart. I couldn't imagine a more perfect family life growing up, but here you are scoffing at the whole thing just because your daddy doesn't spend as much time with you as the other fathers do with their kids!" Naruto lectured.

"What do you care?! You are both adored by the entire village and always have been! I'm only well known here for who my dad is! Never what I've done!"

Naruto then grabbed him by the collar of Boruto's shirt. "At least you have all of that! For 12 fucking years I had NOTHING! No family, everyone hated me and no shop or food stand would ever let me shop there! Because I was born on the day the 9 tails attacked the village! They thought I was a DEMON! I was beaten nearly to death almost on a daily basis! You think you have a shit life?! You have it easy you little asshole! I would have KILLED to have an upbringing like what you have!"

"Why do you care!?" Boruto screamed again with tears in his eyes. "You're not my Dad!"

"It's because I love you!" Naruto shouted back.

Boruto's eyes went wide. He loved him? He hardly knew him.

"I've only known you for maybe an hour, but I can see so much of myself in you. You're my son. And if I can fall in love with you after having you scream at me for half of that hour, then your Dad must think the world of you." Naruto said.

"Well he doesn't show it!" Boruto cried.

"Yes. He does." Naruto said, as certain as was his love for Chiyo. "You may not see it, but he does love you. Very much."

Boruto just broke down sobbing. All the years of putting on the tough guy act, the aloof kid who didn't care about stupid adults, it crumbled away. He fell right into Naruto's chest.

Naruto embraced him for everything he was worth and rocked gently from side to side to comfort him.

* * *

Back in the Uzumaki quarters, Sakura and Hinata were waiting impatiently, hoping everything was okay. It had been nearly 20 minutes since both Naruto and Boruto stormed out and the Uzumaki Matriarchs were getting worried.

Sally had come back with her best friend Alexander and the two of them decided to drag Himawari along to play in the ship, leaving the two women alone.

In that time, Sakura had divulged all of the personal parts of the reason why she and Naruto had gotten together and why they weren't in the same relationships their counterparts were in here.

"-and that's everything to the letter... Every little detail." Sakura said.

"I feel like you were bragging when you mentioned having sex with him less than an hour ago." Hinata said as she held Chiyo in her arms.

"Just a bit. All my old friends from back in the Leaf are still on Element and I'm not allowed to talk to them because of the Prime Directive." Sakura said.

"Right, I can understand that. But, wow. Lady Tsunade is a Starfleet Commander?" Hinata asked in awe.

"Yes. I was surprised too. It makes perfect sense if you think about it though."

"Not really, but the fact that you proved that Element has ties to Earth...I have to say, I'm very envious of you. The possibility of Element being a full ally of the Federation and then have a fleet of your own ships to be built. does Naruto know how stressful that's going to be on him?"

"No...what do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Well, think about it. With you two currently serving in Starfleet, if Element becomes an ally of the Federation, then the Shinobi nations will forever be united under one flag. And who do you think everyone is going to choose to lead the planet?" Hinata asked.

Sakura's eyes grew wide when the realization hit her. "Naruto..."

"He'll skip right over being Hokage and become the leader of the entire planet as well as ambassador and liaison for Element to the Federation. My Naruto is already overworked, but this would be 10 times harder for him if this comes to pass."

"And if your Naruto manages to unlock warp technology. He could be granted a similar title." Sakura said.

"Possibly..." Hinata sighed. "But I don't think it will happen in our lifetimes."

"You never know." Sakura said. Her sentence was punctuated by the doors sliding open, revealing Naruto and Boruto standing side by side.

"Oh thank the Sage." Sakura and Hinata breathed out as she tried to rush up to them, but were stopped short by Naruto.

"Boruto, I believe you have something to say to the both of them." Naruto said.

"I'm sorry for my outburst earlier." Boruto said genuinely.

Hinata had to hold her tears in. She handed Chiyo back to Sakura and ran up and hugged her son. "Honey...I know you hate your father right now, but you have to understand..."

"Mom, I know...and it's not his fault." Boruto said, completely shocking Hinata.

"W-what did you say...?" Hinata gasped.

"Naruto explained things to me. Made me realize that I've been kind of a brat. And I know that you and Dad try your best. And I'm sorry." Boruto said, resting his head against Hinata's belly.

Hinata was really trying hard not to cry, but instead she tightened her embrace around her son and mouthed a "thank you" to Naruto.

Naruto gave her a polite nod and a smile before heading over to Sakura to take Chiyo off her hands. As he did this he was granted a kiss on the cheek from Sakura.

* * *

Several hours later in the Hokage's office, Naruto, Sakura and Picard had just arrived inside the Hokage's office, hoping that this new deal will be more fitting for him.

"Lord Hokage." Picard bowed respectfully. "Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Federation Starship USS Enterprise."

"Lord Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, Seventh Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and member of the Shinobi Alliance." The Hokage greeted formally, returning the bow.

Both men stood up straight and Naruto returned to his desk.

"Please, have a seat." Naruto said as his assistant served tea for all the occupants. Including Shikamaru who had the courtesy to put out his cigarette.

They all nodded and sat in chairs provided for them. Picard took a taste of his tea and was surprised by what it was. "Earl Grey? Did my two bodyguards tell you about this?"

"We ninjas have our ways of extracting information." Hokage Naruto smirked.

"I totally told him." Naruto corrected.

"Indeed." Picard said before taking another sip.

"So, have you reconsidered my request?" Hokage Naruto asked, getting right to it.

Picard paused for a moment to set his tea down. He stared at the Hokage for a brief moment before speaking. "I have."

"And I'm under the impression from my wife that you have invited my family and Sakura's family to an amusement park inside your wrecked ship." Hokage Naruto added, raising an eyebrow. "So I'm hoping this is more of a sign of good faith rather than a truly weak attempt to hold my family hostage. I do understand that we didn't end the last meeting on the best of terms."

"Oh no. I have no intention of holding anyone hostage. As the young would say, it is not my style." Picard assured sincerely.

"Very good. So what is your reconsideration?" The Hokage asked.

Picard motioned to Sakura who pulled out a storage scroll. She undid the seal on it and out came a black box about the size of a parcel package.

"We have come up with a solution that we believe all sides will find agreeable. One that grants you warp technology and where we get to uphold the Prime Directive at the same time." Sakura said.

Shikamaru sat up straighter next to the Hokage. "We are listening."

"This box is a special combination lock box. Inside the box is everything you need to create your own warp capable ship, including a warp core. The only way to open it is to solve the code." Picard said.

"A simple code? We could run a code breaking software on it or I could slice it open with my Rasenshuriken." The Hokage said.

"You could, and we can't stop you from doing this." Picard admitted.

"But I doubt your code breaker is able to solve a quantum physics equation from the 24th century." Sakura added.

"It's still a set series of numbers. Given enough time, it would eventually reach the right answer." Shikamaru pointed out.

"True, but that's not the point of the equation. By solving it honestly, you prove your worth of having warp technology. If you cheat, you risk being granted powers you are not ready for. But at the same time, we have not broken the Prime Directive because we have not given you warp technology, just the chance to earn it yourself. Whether that be tomorrow or a thousand years from now." Picard spoke.

"What exactly is the code supposed to mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"Simply put, it is the number for the proper matter antimatter intermix ratio. Without that, you run the risk of destroying not only yourselves, but your entire planet." Sakura informed.

"It's not 50-50 is it?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"It's not a percentage number. It's far more complex than that." Sakura said truthfully.

"Good, because if we spent trillions of Ryo and decades of our lives researching this equation only to come back with a basic answer like that I would be pissed." Hokage Naruto joked.

Picard smirked. "I assure you, it may take the rest of your life...but, as your counterpart has proven to me on several occasions, it's not wise to underestimate the most unpredictable knucklehead ninja of the galaxy."

"Yeeeeep." Shikamaru said as he took a sip of his own tea.

Picard took the box from Sakura and placed it on the Hokage's desk. "The top of the box has a screen." He started before powering it on, showing that the code to unlock it was well over 30 digits long. "This is what you use to enter the code."

Both Narutos whistled, it being the first time either of them saw the box.

"And how many tries do we have?" Shikamaru asked.

"An infinite amount. You can try as many times as you wish without consequence." Picard said.

"Okay good. I don't see any problems with this. Do you?" Hokage Naruto asked his advisor.

"None. But I do believe we made an agreement for their medical technology and replicators." Shikamaru reminded.

"And you shall receive them as well. But we need the Tritanium delivered as soon as possible. We are on an incredibly short deadline." Picard said.

"Consider it done. Shikamaru, send word to the miners that our entire payload of Tritanium ore is to be prepared for trade transportation." Hokage Naruto ordered.

"You already ordered for it to be transported to the Hokage Vault earlier today. It should arrive within the hour." Shikamaru said.

"Oh right. I forgot about that." Hokage Naruto chuckled.

"I don't suppose I could impose the use of my ship's cargo shuttles to transport the ore in a faster manner." Picard offered.

"Can they land on the roof of the Hokage Tower?" Shikamaru asked.

"I assure you they can." Picard said.

"Then we will have teams of Jounin and ANBU there to oversee the transaction and make it go smoothly." Hokage Naruto said.

Picard nodded before tapping his combadge. "Picard to Enterprise. Prepare to launch the cargo shuttles on my order."

Hokage Naruto flashed his chakra and a team of ANBU appeared at his side.

"Send one of you to direct the cargo to the roof of the Hokage Tower. The rest set up a defensive perimeter around the area. And someone inform the Barrier Team that we will have a bunch of authorized U.F.O.s flying into our airspace."

"Yes sir." The ANBU team said before flashing away.

"With that all said I think we can call this a done deal." Hokage Naruto said, slapping his table and pulling out a bottle of brandy a couple of shot glasses.

"Brandy?" Sakura asked.

"My favorite brand. Turns out Granny Tsunade had the right idea all along." The Hokage chuckled as he poured everyone a shot and passed it to them in one smooth motion.

"You should know me well enough to know that I'm not a fan of Brandy." Sakura smirked.

"Well I'm not as obsessed with you in this universe." Hokage Naruto smirked. "Come on, try it Naruto. You'll like it." He said before downing his drink in one go.

"So long as I don't get drunk like last time." Naruto chuckled before downing his shot. "Nice." He said, surprised at how much he liked the taste.

"Wait, how did you get drunk? I sense Kurama in you." Hokage Naruto asked.

"Oh that...it was his idea so I would have sex with Sakura-chan...OOOWW!" Naruto cried when Sakura bashed him in the head.

"Oh I remember those punches." The Hokage laughed.

"You never learn, do you?!" Sakura growled at her husband.

"No, I don't." The Hokage answered for Naruto.

"But Sakura-chan...I was just telling...well, myself." Naruto said

"And Shikamaru! And Picard! And whatever ANBU members are listening in to this conversation!" Sakura snapped.

"Oh, Shikamaru doesn't even pay attention to that sort of thing anymore. And my ANBU only listen in when I wanted them to." Hokage Naruto waved off. In truth, Shikamaru was completely paying attention, but he was smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut. As were all the ANBU agents.

"And I've gotten used to you two and your...rather colorful stories." Picard grumbled.

"I'm sure they have some good ones. Lay them on us." The Hokage said.

"Hmmm, what's one that doesn't involve their sex life?" Picard wondered aloud.

"Captain!" Sakura exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Wait, were you ever with ANBU?" Naruto asked his counterpart.

"I was not. I was promoted from Genin to Hokage." He admitted.

Now Naruto and Sakura had plenty of stories to tell. "Well, lucky for you, we were." Naruto smirked.

"Really?" Hokage Naruto asked, now fully intrigued.

"That's rather interesting. Kakashi approved you two of that I take it." Shikamaru assumed.

"He didn't have any say in it. He was never Hokage in our universe." Sakura informed.

"Really, who was?"

"Granny Tsunade is still Hokage." Naruto said.

"Really? Even after her rather hot-tempered display after the war?" Shikamaru asked

"I don't know what to tell you. She cooled down and stuck with the job. Myself, Sakura, and our Shikamaru got promoted to Jounin and then me and Sakura went on to join the ANBU." Naruto said.

"Oh that's not fair..." Hokage Naruto sulked.

"Actually, that is very interesting." Shikamaru said.

"I'd have to say our most interesting mission was...the Grass rebellion, was it?" Sakura asked her Naruto.

"I mean that was the most elaborate." Naruto admitted, trying to remember the specific details.

Sakura was also trying to remember that mission when one funny thing about it came to mind and she laughed. "I think you may remember when I tricked you into eating deer testicles."

"What?" Hokage Naruto laughed.

"Oh I remember now." Naruto said, his cheeks flushed. "I had tricked Sakura into going undercover as a stripper for the first half of the mission in order to seduce our contact." Naruto said, remembering all the bouncy parts of Sakura's outfit. "Except I neglected to mention to Sakura that our contact was a woman. A straight woman. So while Sakura danced on stage, I flirted with the informant and got the info."

"So to get my revenge. After Naruto had been poisoned by an enemy kunai, I convinced him that the only cure was to eat these meat balls." Sakura smirked.

"Heh. I think I see why you two got married. You two are a lot more alike than you realize." Shikamaru said in amusement.

"Yeah, speaking of marriage. Did you and Temari become an item here?" Sakura asked.

"We did." Shikamaru nodded. "We even had a son. Shikadai. He's the spitting image of me with Temari's sharp eyes." He said with an obvious hint of pride.

"Cool!" Naruto cheered.

"Now we've got something to tease our Shikamaru about later." Sakura smirked.

"Just don't interfere with him getting with Temari. She's the least troublesome thing to ever happen to me." Shikamaru said.

"That's what we tell him, but he's being as clueless as Ino after a night of bar hopping." Sakura sighed. "Oh, speaking of Ino..."

"She and Sai got married which none of us really saw coming. They had a son as well." Shikamaru informed.

"Well they are engaged in our universe. But I wasn't going to ask that." Sakura said.

"What were you going to ask?"

"If I could see her. I know she's not the same Ino I know, but I haven't been able to talk to my surrogate sister in about a year." Sakura requested.

"I think that can be arranged. Just invite her and the rest of the Konoha 11 to this amusement park." Hokage Naruto suggested.

Sakura fidgeted with her hands for a moment. "Um...Sasuke isn't in the village right now, is he?"

"Unfortunately, no. He is in the Land of Mist, checking out a lead for me. I don't expect to hear from him for a month." Hokage Naruto sighed.

Sakura nodded while she was inwardly in relief that she didn't have to see him in this timeline.

"Is there a story behind that sigh of relief?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"Nothing I would like to share." Sakura said.

"I think I know..." Hokage Naruto sighed.

"Please don't bring it up. We were having such a good time." Sakura begged.

Hokage Naruto nodded before a pigeon came in and delivered him a scroll. "Captain, my ANBU report all areas ready. You can send in your shuttle craft."

Picard nodded and tapped his combadge. "Picard to Enterprise. Launch the cargo shuttles."

"Aye, sir. Launching shuttles to your location." Someone on the other end replied.

The Hokage poured himself and Naruto another shot. "To the future." He said, raising his glass to Picard and his bodyguards.

"To peace and long life." Picard said before all 4 of them took a drink.

"Now...how about we move this to the roof?" Hokage Naruto suggested.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Picard said before setting his glass down.

"Shikamaru. Get Sakura and Granny Tsunade here so they can take inventory of the medical supplies." Hokage Naruto ordered.

"Lady Tsunade is retired, Naruto." Shikamaru said.

"Well she will want to meet our counterparts."

Shikamaru sighed. "Fine. I'll send for her."

"Perfect." Hokage Naruto said.

After a short while, the group made their way to the roof of the tower where the older Sakura was already waiting, confused as to why she was called there.

"Eh, Sakura-chan!" The Starfleet Naruto called out. "Guess who brocade a deal between our two people?"

"Wait, seriously? That's awesome!" Older Sakura all but squealed.

Picard walked up to her and offered a handshake. "Hello, Sakura."

She smiled. "And you must be Captain Picard. A pleasure." She said and shook his hand.

"I wanted to thank you and your medical team for helping us out. It was a much needed load off our shoulders."

"Don't thank me. I was happy to help. And happy to see my alternative daughter." Older Sakura said.

"I'm sure you are aware of your counterparts offer for a trip to our holodeck." Picard said.

"I am. Sarada sounded particularly enthused. A room that can perform the transformation jutsu, she called it."

Picard chuckled. "It's a little more complex than that." He said before they heard something coming towards them.

There, coming up over the mountain, was 6 Federation Type 8 cargo shuttles, flying right towards them.

"Impressive. We should have asked for your shuttle technology too." Hokage Naruto said.

"They're armed so we couldn't." Lt. Naruto said.

"Right, right. Still, some flying cars would be awesome."

"I drove one during our stay on Earth. not really that amazing."

"You loved it." Sakura said.

They were interrupted when two of the shuttles landed on the roof. Thanks to anti-grave repulsors, it put no weight on the structure at all. The rear hatch of both shuttles opened and in there were several crates labeled as medical supplies and replicator components.

Older Sakura made a mad dash to the shuttle with the medical supplies and cracked open a crate. She found medical tricorders, hyposprays and many different drugs and medical agents that would be more than beneficial to the Leaf for generations to come.

To her, this was better than Christmas.

"Oh ho ho ho, this is great." Older Sakura said.

"Happy, are you?" Hokage Naruto teased.

"Oh we are going to reset the bar for medical technology. Farther than Lady Tsunade ever pushed it." Older Sakura said.

"What did I do?" They heard a voice from the stairs.

All eyes turned to one the Leaf's greatest Hokage's. Lady Tsunade Senju, looking just as young and beautiful as Naruto and Sakura remembered her.

"Hey brat. What's the deal with bringing me here?" Tsunade demanded.

"Lady Tsunade." Sakura said.

Tsunade looked over and saw not one, but two Sakura's. And two Naruto's. And the shuttle craft around the tower with Picard in the middle of it. She inwardly smirked. "And what absurdness have you brought to our village now, Brat?"

"Mine and Sakura's counterparts from another universe. They serve as bodyguards and officers aboard that spaceship everyone saw fly overhead. And get this, in their universe. They are married and have a two-week-old daughter together." Hokage Naruto briefly summarized.

"Oh really? You mean what I tried to get you and Sakura to do?" Tsunade said.

Hokage Naruto frowned. "Can we not bring that up again..."

"Yes, let's not." Older Sakura said.

"Fine, so why am I here?" Tsunade asked

"To meet them. And their 2-week-old daughter." Hokage Naruto said. "I thought you might like that."

"I thought you wanted her to see the medical tech." Lt Sakura reminded.

"The what now?" Tsunade asked, her curiosity being turned to the shuttles.

"Naruto here just negotiated to granted us a whole host of new technologies from another dimension in exchange for some materials they desperately needed." Medic Sakura said.

"Including making changes to the hospital, I take it." Tsunade said, venom dripping in her tone before glaring at her fellow Hokage. "What was the agreement we made about the hospital?"

"That I would give full control to your apprentice." Hokage Naruto said.

"Yes, IF you promised me not to make any significant changes unless you consult with me first."

"I think you might wanna rethink that." Older Sakura said as she motioned Tsunade over to her.

"You really will." Star fleet Sakura said as she flanked Tsunade's other side.

"Maybe I will if you teach all of the medical staff how to use..." Tsunade paused when she picked up a tricorder. "…whatever this is."

Lt. Sakura sighed before taking it from Tsunade and opening it. She took out the cylinder part of the tricorder and scanned her with it. All Tsunade could make of it was a bunch of beeping noises and flashing lights, until Sakura turned the device around and showed her the screen. What she saw she couldn't believe. It showed vital signs, EKG, o2 stats, blood sugar levels, even red and white cell counts.

"With just a simple scan, you know more about your patient in seconds. Several times faster than the traditional way. It will even alert you to any changes that could be life threatening." Lt Sakura informed.

Sakura's tricorder beeped and she looked at it. "Hmm...how long have you had arthritis?"

Tsunade's eyes went wide. "H-how...did you...no one knows that!"

"My tricorder does. I'm showing a lot of inflammation in almost all of your joints." Sakura said before digging out some sort of chemical liquid and loaded it into some kind of cylinder. She attempted to put it against the side of Tsunade's neck, who shied away at first. "Relax." Sakura ordered before injecting the hypospray into Tsunade, who immediately felt 100 times better.

"What the hell was that?" Tsunade asked.

"A special type of anti-inflammatory that nullifies the effects of arthritis for up to a month with just one does. Be sure to have regular injections to keep the arthritis at bay. Get an injection if you have a flare-up before your monthly dose." Sakura ordered.

She then pulled out a list from the box that had all of the drugs that were provided and handed it to her counterpart. "Everything you need to know about all the drugs you were given is here. Memorize it well."

"Look at you." Tsunade said. "Ten years younger yet giving me medical advice."

"Because now my knowledge far exceeds yours." Lt Sakura smirked.

"Oh, and cocky too." Tsunade smirked.

"I suppose you could say that both you and Naruto have rubbed off on me."

"I'm sure Naruto did more than rub off on you." Tsunade said.

Older Sakura snickered while Lt. Sakura blushed deeply.

"So I was also told there was a baby I could gawk at?" Tsunade asked.

"Right here." Naruto said before clapping his hands and summoning forth a baby seat complete with the pink haired baby.

"There she is!" Older Sakura gushed, seeing her half daughter.

"Did you just Thunder God our daughter here?" Younger Sakura snapped.

"Um..." Naruto stammered nervously.

"Give her here." Tsunade demanded.

Naruto quickly gave his daughter over to take the attention off of him. Hopefully by the sheer adorableness of Sakura seeing Tsunade hold Chiyo.

Tsunade couldn't believe her eyes. Here, in this bundle, was the most adorable little girl she had ever seen. She had the best features of both Naruto and Sakura. She had Naruto's blue eyes, Sakura's pink hair and broad forehead, and finally...Naruto's whisker marks.

"My God, she's perfect." Tsunade smiled as Chiyo looked up at her with her curious eyes.

"You didn't say that about Sarada..." Older Sakura mumbled.

"Well excuse me for wanting to see my two favorite ninjas get together and produce a child." Tsunade said as she petted Chiyo's cheeks.

The older Tenchi duo groaned. "Can we please not bring that up..."

"We already have." Tsunade said. "My, by the sounds of it, you two regret your decisions on who you chose for a spouse." Tsunade smirked. "Are you two sneaking some private time in the Hokage office?"

"As if I would ever cheat on Hinata." Naruto said.

"Or I with Sasuke." Sakura said.

"Well, it wouldn't be cheating if it was a mutual agreement. An old one called CRA." Tsunade smirked.

Older Sakura blushed, but Hokage Naruto was confused.

"CRA? What's that?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"Lady Tsunade, no." Older Sakura begged.

"Clan Restoration Act. It allows you to take multiple wives to greatly expand your clan back to its former glory. Both you and Sasuke are highly qualified candidates." Tsunade said.

"Except both of them have devoted and fertile wives." Sakura growled.

"Then explain why you only have one child and Naruto has two." Tsunade pointed out.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've gone a decade without seeing my husband. So it's a little hard to procreate when you are a thousand mile away from your partner." Sakura snapped.

"And Hinata just doesn't want anymore...even though I do." Hokage Naruto said sadly.

"I find that very hard to believe." Older Sakura said while Starfleet Naruto and Sakura grew uncomfortable.

"It's true! Hinata said that Boruto and Himawari are hard enough to take care of, plus do all the housework and cleaning while I'm working my butt off. Plus she's worried about another one happening like Himawari."

"Oh yeah...Placenta Previa...she was really freaked out about that." Older Sakura remembered.

"Yeah, and it's frustrating." Hokage Naruto sighed.

"I understand that, but don't expect me to spread my legs for you. It's not going to happen." Older Sakura said firmly.

"I'm not asking you too. I didn't even bring this up. Granny did cause she's a closet perv." Hokage Naruto accused.

Older Sakura snickered. "She really is, oh my god!"

"Oh very funny..." Tsunade grumbled. "This coming from the boy who spent a good part of his teenage years with the self-proclaimed super pervert."

"At least he told me to find a girl I love and never let her go. I found Hinata." Hokage Naruto said.

"Yeah, after how many years of barely knowing that she existed." Tsunade snickered.

"Don't remind me. Do you know how many years I could have had a girlfriend with huge tits?" Hokage Naruto said, holding out his hands like he just grew a pair himself.

"Really?!" Both Sakura's exclaimed in embarrassment before both wailing on him.

Starfleet Naruto just stood by, wondering what it would be like if Sakura had bigger boobs. Then shaking that thought out of his head when they grew to sizes too absurd to be sexy.

"OOWWWW!" Hokage Naruto cried out. Getting womped upside the head by one Sakura was bad enough. Two was too much.

"Aaaaaaah!" Chiyo laughed as she clapped her hands.

Tsunade just smiled at Chiyo's reaction. "Awww...she's just too adorable..."

Both Sakura's and Lt Naruto looked at Chiyo. Her parents went wide eyed when they saw her reaction.

"Oh my God...this is new..." Lt Sakura gasped. She had never seen any baby laugh this early in life, let alone her own.

"She's so smart." Medic Sakura said.

Lt Sakura smiled. "Good. She takes after me then."

"And I'm so grateful for that." Naruto said before kissing Chiyo on the forehead.

Unknown to them, the unloading and loading of the shuttles was already commencing.

"Ahem..." Picard spoke to get everyone's attention. All eyes turned on him.

"I think everyone lost track in what is going on here." Picard said as the last of the ore was being loaded onto the cargo shuttle. "I'm going back to the ship. There is enough room in this shuttle if you lot would like to come along. I do believe there is an amusement park promise to keep."

"We promised them in a few days. We figured everything would be on track by then." Naruto said.

* * *

Days later, construction on the Enterprise was well underway. The ore was treated and being used to repair the ship as quickly as possible. They only had a day before they would have to take off or the wormhole would close for good.

So of course, this seemed like the perfect time to fire up the holodeck systems and create an amusement park for all the Konoha 11 and their kids to enjoy. Plus a few of their mentors.

All of the Konoha 11 and their families were escorted down the hallways by Worf, whom a lot of them found him to be a very strange man. His forehead ridges were things that no one had ever seen before on this planet. But everyone just assumed that he was of an alien race that the Federation had encountered many times in their universe.

"So you must be Lieutenant Naruto's counterpart." Worf said to the Hokage.

"Uh...yeah, that would be me." Hokage Naruto said. "And...uh...what might you be?"

"I am Lieutenant Worf. Chief of security for the Enterprise." Worf said.

"You are a Klingon." Sarada said, adjusting her glasses, remembering everything her mother had told her about Starfleet.

"Yes. I am."

"My mom, or your version of my mom said you were a warrior race."

"Your mother's counterpart is correct." Worf stated.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Kiba asked.

"There is no need." Worf said.

"I did want to say that your counterpart was a true warrior. One I have been honored to fight beside." Worf added.

Older Sakura smirked. It was a treat to be honored by an alien warrior race.

"And you as well, Sakura. Your counterpart has saved more lives than I can count in the single year you have traveled with us." Worf said.

"I can believe that." Older Sakura nodded.

"Get back here!" A young boy shouted from down the halls. Everyone paused to see Sally Adams wall hopping around the corner and heading straight for them while Alexander chased after her utilizing the tree climbing ability as well.

"You can't catch me!" Sally sang.

"She's...using Chakra?" Hokage Naruto sputtered.

"Alexander! Sally!" Worf shouted, snapping them both out of their game. They immediately skidded to a halt in front of Worf and all of the guests from the Alternative Leaf village. "What did I tell you about jumping around the hallways?"

Both children looked down at their feet.

"Sorry, father." Alexander said.

Everyone, from Kiba, to Shino, to Rock Lee all tried to lean their heads over everyone to get a good look at these two.

"I didn't realize you were a father." Naruto admitted.

Himawari squeezed by her father's leg. "Sally!" She exclaimed.

"Hi Himawari!" Sally beamed.

"Is this the famous NaruSaku daughter we have heard so much about?" Tenten asked.

"No, it's not." Hinata said. "She belongs to a couple on the ship." Hinata smiled, later learning from her daughter how Sally had found Himawari and cheered her up.

"Huh? But she can use Chakra." Lee pointed out.

"Big sis Sakura taught me." Sally said proudly.

"Did she really?" Ino smiled before kneeling down to Sally's level. "And where is she right now?"

"She and Naruto were helping to fix the ship in time for your arrival. They had Kurama watch over us." Sally said.

"Kurama?" Ino asked before a man sized nine tailed fox came running around the corner.

 **"Alright, brats! I'm going to-"** He stopped when he saw the entire counterpart Konoha 11 standing before him, ten years older and more surprised than he had ever seen them. **"Oh, you guys are finally here."** Kurama said, forgetting all about the brats he was about to pulverize for making him run all across the ship.

Everyone from Konoha gasped at the sight before them. Naruto's Tailed Beast, the infamous Nine Tailed Fox, standing before them wearing a yellow Starfleet vest like he was another alien crewmember.

"Kurama...?" Hokage Naruto breathed out.

 **"Hey, kit. I gotta say, Hokage robes look good on you. But that short hair makes you look like a tool."** Kurama smirked.

"Excuse me? Look who is talking mister vest." Hokage Naruto countered.

 **"I have the distinct honor of being part of the ships security and the Federation's secret defense when things get hairy."**

"You still look weird in clothes." Naruto smirked before walking up the demon fox. "It's nice to meet you, fuzzball."

"Likewise...though, you seem weaker than your counterpart."

"Lord Naruto is the strongest man in the world." Sarada said, immediately coming to her Hokage's defense.

"In this world he is."

"It would be an interesting match to see between the two of them." Lee said.

"Our Naruto would win. He's the Hokage." Kiba said.

 **"Don't be too sure, dog boy."**

"Yeah, Naruto is the strongest in the universe!" Sally declared.

"Aren't they the same person? Only our Hokage is older and wiser?" Inojin spoke up.

"I don't know about wiser." Older Sakura snickered.

"I would say he is wiser." Hinata said.

"Our Naruto is still the coolest!" Alexander proclaimed.

 **"Hey, keep it down."** Kurama hissed. **"Or you'll wake up-"** A baby's cries interrupted his words. All eyes went wide.

"Is that?" Ino asked as Kurama sighed and unraveled his fuzzy tails to reveal everyone's favorite pink haired baby crying in her blanket. "Oh...my...GOD!" Ino squealed as she quickly darted around everyone to see the baby.

Chiyo looked so miserable after being woken up from her nap. Especially when she was surrounded by all this furry warmth. She opened her blue eyes to see a woman with paler eyes and whiter blond hair than her father.

"Awww...she's perfect..." Ino gushed as Tenten and Temari gathered around as well.

"Never thought I'd see the day." Choji's wife Karui said as her daughter Chocho ran up to catch a glimpse.

"I don't believe it...they would have made a beautiful child! I knew it!" Tenten beamed.

"Hogwash, I knew it!" Ino declared.

"Hey move out of the way you lot, she's my daughter." Older Sakura said as she pushed past the group of gawking hens and scooped up the still sobbing Chiyo.

"Shhh...it's okay, sweetie..." Sakura soothed as she bounced Chiyo in her arms gently.

Chiyo recognized the voice, but kept crying.

"Is she hungry?" Karui asked.

"She just woke up from a nap. She's just cranky." Temari guessed.

"I think she just wants to move around." Tenten added.

"She wants her Aunt Ino." Ino said.

"No." Hinata spoke up. "She wants both her parents."

Older Sakura raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"I raised two Uzumaki babies. I know what their cries mean." Hinata said knowingly.

"Mooom..." Boruto groaned in embarrassment.

"Oh...um...Naruto, get over here." Sakura said, a bit hesitant.

"Uh, are you sure about that? I'm sure we could find her real parents if we just looked at bit." He replied nervously over Chiyo's ever increasing cries.

"Just get over here and hold your daughter." Sakura ordered.

Naruto continued to hesitate until he felt a gentle push on his back. He turned and saw his wife smiling at him. "Go on."

"H-Hinata? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now hurry up. Chiyo needs you." Hinata said without a hint of jealousy.

Naruto nodded, feeling a little more relaxed. He walked up to Sakura and Chiyo, but wasn't sure what to do next.

"Just wrap your arms around me. But keep it above the lower back." Sakura ordered.

Naruto gulped, but nodded. He slowly wrapped himself around Sakura and Chiyo, hoping that would calm down their daughter.

At first it didn't look like it would work. Chiyo kept fussing and crying. Then her lift fist wrapped around Naruto's robes and his familiar scent mixed with Sakura's. Chiyo's cries noticeably went quieter and she called down.

"Well I'll be...it actually worked." Tenten said in awe.

"Shh! Don't ruin it!" Ino hissed as she relished in the sweet moment she was witnessing. Naruto and Sakura. Both in each other's embrace, calming down their daughter from another universe. It was something she'd never thought she would see.

Even Hinata, as jealous as she was, couldn't help but think it was such a cute moment. That's when Himawari ran up and hugged Naruto's leg. Naruto and Sakura were surprised, but had their heart's warmed all the same. Even more surprisingly, next came Boruto and Sarada, how both hugged their respective parents around their waist. Turning this into a perfect picture moment.

Hinata nearly cried before she felt a push from behind.

"Go on." Kiba said.

Hinata nodded and joined in as well.

Naruto smiled when he felt his entire family hugging him. Including his old teammate and best friend.

 _ **'Well ain't this cute?'**_ Older Kurama thought inside the Hokage.

 _'It's all I ever wanted...'_ Naruto replied.

 **"Ahem."** Starfleet Kurama coughed. **"Not that this isn't sweet, but the holodeck has been warmed up for you. And your counterparts should be waiting by now."**

Sakura looked down at Chiyo to see that she was sound asleep once again. "Alright, just be quiet. Everyone." She whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"She should be sound asleep for now." Hinata said.

"Not if she's anything like Sarada." Sakura said.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"Sarada was always a light sleeper."

Naruto and Hinata gulped.

 **"She is a very light sleeper. The slightest noise startles her awake."** Kurama whispered.

"So worse than Sarada. Nobody so much as breath hard. Let's move." Sakura ordered.

Everyone immediately started walking as silently as only master ninjas could. They soon came across an odd hexagon shaped door that looked sturdy enough to survive a Rasengan or two. Worf led them through the doors and on the other side was a black room with yellow lines in a grid pattern.

Standing in the middle of the room, were Naruto and Sakura in their Starfleet uniforms. They were currently trying to stretch their aching backs. Turns out hauling ungodly heavy tons of metal all across the ship did a number on your back.

"Oh hey. You're here." Lt. Sakura smiled as she looked up from stretching her back.

 **"Yup. They just calmed down Chiyo too. It was honestly the most adorable thing I've seen all day."** Kurama said.

"I'll have to get the vision off you for that." CRACK "AAAAhhhh...there it is..." Naruto said as he cracked his back.

"Sakura, you promised us the amusement park program today." Sally reminded her.

"We will, don't you worry." Sakura assured.

"Computer. Run program Naruto Amusement park 1." Naruto ordered.

The walls beeped and the whole room shimmered. The other ninjas were concerned, but for the crew aboard the Enterprise this was just another Saturday.

Before their eyes, the fairly large room transformed into a mile-long concrete jungle of towering roller coasters and decorated rides. In the air there was the scents of cotton candy and hotdogs. With no one else besides their group around, they had the whole park to themselves.

"Computer. Add in a few guests dressed as teddy bear mascots." Naruto ordered.

"Seriously, Naruto?" The younger Sakura sighed.

"What? It would be creepy to be in a park all by ourselves." Naruto defended.

"You did this on the beach program and made the ocean ramen." Lt Sakura reminded.

"Ocean ramen?" Hokage Naruto perked up as all the kids ran off to ride the rides.

"Oh god..." Older Sakura groaned.

"Yes...he turned the entire ocean into ramen..." Lt Sakura sighed.

"Oh Naruto." Hinata giggled.

"Come on, guys. Let's ride some rides!" Naruto declared.

Everyone scattered all over the park like the eager adventure seekers they were. Younger Naruto and Sakura created Shadow Clones of themselves to watch over Chiyo while they found the nearest rollercoaster to ride. Meanwhile, older Naruto and Hinata decided to do something a little more slow paced. A ride in some paddle boats.

"WEEEEEAAAAAK!" Younger Naruto shouted as he and Sakura strapped themselves into the front car.

"Hey! I'm in my mid-thirties and tired! I deserve this!" Hokage Naruto shouted back.

"You're still weak!" Sakura shouted back as the car was cranked up to the highest hill.

Older Naruto growled at the two of them before Hinata laid a comforting hand on his. "It's okay dear. At least your wife has bigger tits."

Older Naruto snickered before laughing out loud.

Younger Naruto and Sakura were also laughing as they were sent flying down the coaster at max speeds. Each of them keeping their hands off the rails before chickening out and putting them back just in time for the first dip and loop-de-loop.

* * *

As they were screaming their heads off, the new Team 7 were having a gay old time with the bumper cars. Boruto bumped into Mitsuki who bumped into Sarada who steered around and bumped into Boruto.

Boruto and Sarada laughed, but Mitsuki just gave a small smile.

When they got bored of that they went on the tilt-a-whirl until Boruto got sick. Forcing an immediate trip to the bathroom while Sarada ran to buy a water bottle for her teammate.

Sarada returned with a bottle of water and gave it to a green faced Boruto. "Here, drink this."

Boruto gratefully took it and gulped down a huge sip before swishing and spitting out what was left of the bile in his mouth.

"Thanks, Sarada. Seriously." He gasped.

"Maybe you shouldn't ride any more intense rides for a while." Sarada suggested.

"No, no, I wanna keep riding." Boruto said before trying and failing to stand up. "Okay, maybe not."

Sarada rolled her eyes. "Come on, I know of a gentle ride that will help ease your nausea."

"Well then let's go." Mitsuki said.

"No, Mitsuki, why don't you go on another rollercoaster." Sarada said.

Mitsuki just shrugged and left to do just that.

"What was that for?" Boruto asked.

"What was what for?" Sarada asked.

"Why did you send Mitsuki away?" Boruto asked.

"So he could enjoy himself. How rarely do we see him crack a smile?"

"Good point...woah..." Boruto said as he tried to stand but was losing his balance.

Sarada caught him just before he could fall and supported him on her shoulder.

"Thanks..."

"No problem." Sarada said. Her close proximity to her crush made her face light up like a cherry, forcing her to adjust her glasses just to have an excuse to turn her head away.

"So where are we going?" Boruto asked.

"A nice and relaxing ride." Sarada said, deliberately moving Boruto towards a ride she saw on the mad dash to the bathroom from the tilt-a-whirl.

"Okay...?"

"Hehe." Sarada chuckled to herself as her glasses caught the light.

She led Boruto down the walkway to a dome shaped building painted bright red and sporting pink neon signs reading: THRILL RIDE O' LOVE - This ain't your parents' tunnel of love.

"Uhhh...Sarada?" Boruto asked in confusion.

"Yes?" Sarada asked.

"Why are we going through a love tunnel?"

"You said you wanted a gentler ride." Sarada said.

"Yeah but...I didn't think you had this in mind. Actually, when did you care about mushy stuff like this?"

"I don't. I mean I do. Not with you at least." She stuttered before remembering the map in her pocket. "But this was the closest green ride in the park." She said as she unfolded the map and pointed at their general location.

"Right. Well we could ride something else if-"

"NO!" Sarada snapped quickly.

Boruto looked over at her, expecting her to drop this facade for the sake of getting him on the ride with her.

"I mean. You're still a little sick from the last ride. Let's just take this one. Medic's orders." Sarada reasoned.

"Ooookay then..." Boruto said, but in reality, he had a strong feeling he knew what was going on here.

"Awesome. Let's go." Sarada said eagerly.

Boruto was suddenly dragged by the hand by Sarada towards the entrance.

Immediately, what Boruto saw was your typical cliche love tunnel scene. Various neon glowing and flashing hearts, cherubs with their love arrows, and in the middle of it all was a manmade tunnel with a heart shaped boat sitting in a manmade river.

 _'Yeah...gentler ride. I believe that one.'_ Boruto thought, but he couldn't help but blush at the prospect of going through this with her.

He stole a quick glance at the back of her head. Noting her silky smooth black hair curving around the nape of her neck. She certainly wasn't the most attractive girl in the village. Probably best in their village. And there was a certain coolness about her. A bit of nobility. Maybe it was her Uchiha blood. Or how she was more down to Earth. Or maybe what attracted him to her was her no bullshit attitude. It was the same attitude he had heard his father talk about Sakura. Truly, they were almost like a mirror image of one another. He couldn't help but admire that. Luckily, Sarada didn't inherit her mother's flat chest feature. The Uchiha blood certainly fixed that. Perhaps it was also in his blood that attracted him to her. He knew his dad had a massive crush on Sakura back when they were much younger. Who could blame him? Pink hair was rare and it was beautiful on her. Even Boruto had to admit that. If only Sarada had inherited that from her mother. But upon looking closer at Sarada's hair, he noticed something.

"Did you dye your hair?" He asked.

"No, it's naturally this color. Why?" Sarada asked.

Boruto gently grabbed a lock of her hair that had pink strands in it and showed it to her. "That's why."

"Oh that...Yeah, they've been popping up from time to time..." Sarada answered simply, but had to turn away to hide her red face over the fact that he touched her hair.

"I like it." Boruto said out of the blue.

Sarada bit her lower lip. If she thought her face couldn't get any redder, it did.

Their boat sailed around the lazy river and entered a hall of mirrors. Everywhere they looked, walls, ceiling, even under the surface of the water they could see reflections of themselves staring back at them.

"Okay, this isn't what I expected." Sarada admitted.

"The sign said it wasn't our parents' tunnel of love." Boruto said.

"Yeah, that's true...but still."

"I mean I still don't see why this counts as a Thrill Ride O' Love. Seems like every tunnel of love I've ever heard of." Boruto said. Right as he finished speaking, the boat jerked to the left. The lazy river tilted, making Sarada fall into Boruto's arms before it righted itself again.

"You okay?" Boruto asked.

Sarada adjusted her glasses only to find that her nose was nearly touching Boruto's. Their surroundings had changed again. No longer were they in a hall of mirrors. All around them were paintings of famous romantic moments from pop culture. Actors kissing and hugging in the finales of their films or tv shows.

"Um...Sarada..."

"Y-yeah...?"

"Be honest...why did you really want me in here?" Boruto asked, despite the fact they were still in very close proximity to one another's faces. "I think I know the answer, but I wanna hear it from you."

"Well..." Sarada said nervously. Could she really just admit it. Wouldn't that jeopardize their team structure is she did? Then she remembered that her parents were on the same team and the old Team 7 worked well together after the war, even when they were dating. She would just have to put their relationship on hold during a mission. The mission objectives always came first.

"Well, I thought it would be nice if we could spend some time together." Sarada said. "Because I like you."

Boruto's eyes went wide. He knew that she had liked him, but he never thought she would admit it. "R-really...?"

"Really." Sarada said.

Boruto gulped. "I...um...I do...too..."

Sarada went wide eyed. "You do?"

Boruto nodded hesitantly. "Yes...in all honesty...I've always found you attractive and... I think you're really cool..."

"Oh? I think you're really cool too. And handsome." Sarada said, feeling like her cheeks were glowing redder than her Sharingan.

"Y-you do?"

"Of course I do." Sarada said with certainty.

That was the last thing Boruto expected. But what came next was completely out of the blue.

The lazy river took a steep dive out of nowhere. Sending Sarada and Boruto screaming down the slide as water peppered their faces. They quickly held onto each other just to give themselves something to grasp. And just when they thought they would never stop falling the boat righted itself and the two Genin were soaked right down to their underwear.

"UGH! Now that was rude!" Sarada protested.

"Haha! That was fun!" Boruto laughed.

Sarada looked at Boruto and saw that he was enjoying himself. She couldn't help but crack a smile and laugh along with him.

The both of them were drunk off their laughter that they didn't even realize that their cheeks were touching as they leaned up against one another. It wasn't until they looked up and saw a passing mirror that they really saw how close they were.

The two of them soon found themselves back outside where they had started. The sign hanging over their heads reminding them to dry off.

"Aww, its over already?" Sarada whined.

"Yeah..." Boruto said before getting a mischievous idea. "You wanna go again?"

Sarada gave him a smile that he had never seen her give anyone before. "Sure!" She beamed.

Boruto couldn't help but smile himself. They both quickly hopped out of their boat and leapt into a fresh one heading back inside. All the while Boruto lead Sarada by the hand.

* * *

"How in the Hell is this even possible?" Kiba asked, still in awe at the completely life like hologram he was in.

"Obviously advanced computers, Kiba." Shino answered, ever the school teacher.

"What year is it here?" Lt Sakura asked.

"2022, why?" Ino asked.

"Tack on 350 years, give or take a decade." Lt Sakura said.

"Wait, you're that far in the future?!" Ino exclaimed.

"No, that's roughly the time gap between our technology."

"Or so Lieutenant Commander Geordi has told us." Worf said.

"I think we did pretty well with our advancement in technology." Hokage Naruto said.

"Personally, I think you ruined the village." Lt Naruto stated.

"Oh don't you start too." The Hokage snapped, clearly having had this conversation before. "The world is moving away from war and the village needs a new source of income to sustain itself. That means business, technology, and trade."

"I understand that and that's fine. But don't take away the villages iconic look. I came here and the village is nothing how I remember it."

"You think I like those towering monstrosities? All the big C.E.O.s and brilliant tech geniuses need a place to work and our quaint five story buildings weren't cutting it. Plus, when they buy the property they can build as high as they want. Or else they will go somewhere where they can build what they want." Hokage Naruto explained. "Compromise is the name of the game. You'll understand when you wear the red hat."

"You know, dear...I kinda have to agree with him." Lt Sakura said.

"What...?" Lt Naruto gasped.

"Think about it. After the 4th war, we're having a hard time just making a living wage. but then Starfleet comes along and offers us a once in a lifetime opportunity that we couldn't pass up. Whether you become Hokage or you remain in Starfleet, our village, no...our world will drastically change. Our cute village will be a huge city just like it is here."

Naruto sighed.

"Trust me, your counterpart didn't like it any more than you do." Shikamaru said, remembering all the long evenings he had to spend convincing Naruto to fold building requests.

"Yeah, I get it. Still, maybe if we join Starfleet, we won't need to produce all this technology." Naruto said hopefully.

"Anything is possible." Hokage Naruto said. "And if you can do it, open up another portal so that I can visit."

"We didn't open that portal." Lt Sakura said. "It's a temporal wormhole that occurs in space naturally. Although, it doesn't happen very often. According to Lieutenant Commander Data, it only occurs every 70 years or so on this end. What puzzles us is that wormholes typically don't bridge two different periods in time, let alone traveling through subspace and into a completely different universe."

"Oh, well I was just joking." Hokage Naruto said.

"I know, I could tell. I'm married to your counterpart, remember?" Sakura teased.

"Well you explained it anyway. Just like your counterpart." Hokage Naruto said.

"Because sometimes you need the explanation." Older Sakura pointed out.

"Yes, you do." Shikamaru chimed in.

"Oh ha ha..." Hokage Naruto grumbled.

"So, anyway." Ino said, speaking to her best friends' counterpart. "These tricorders. How do you use these things again?"

"Oh that's actually quite simple." Lt Sakura said before pulling hers out and handing it to Ino. "Open it up."

Ino carefully opened it up and nearly jumped when it started making sounds and had a bunch of flashing lights. What really intrigued her was the display on the device.

"Wow...check that out." Ino said. "What the heck does it do?"

"I'll show you." Lt Sakura said. She took back the tricorder but held it out for others to see. Everyone huddled around her as she slowly typed in a few commands and detatched the scanner probe and scanned her counterpart as an example. Instantly, the display showed every vital statistic. Blood pressure, heart rate, EKG, respiratory rate, blood glucose levels, platelet count, red and white blood cell count, organ health and function, and finally, brain activity. All within a fraction of a second.

"Incredible." Ino said.

"It can even take your temperature and detect any ailments you may...hmm..." Lt Sakura said before she found something in her counterparts scans. She immediately looked right at her counterpart. "Seems your liver enzymes are slightly elevated. Let me guess...you took up our masters drinking habits."

"Wow. Just gonna say I'm an alcoholic in front of all out friends." Older Sakura said.

"Are you?" Lt Sakura pressed.

"You try raising a little girl on your own while being Head Medic." Older Sakura said.

Lt Sakura sighed. "Luckily, the replicators you'll be getting can replicate sythehol."

"That fake alcohol you told me about?"

"It may be fake alcohol, but it's just as good as the real thing. Furthermore, you can have it with the delirious effects without damaging your body further."

"Then I guess I'll develop a taste for it. I need to stay healthy for Sarada." Older Sakura said.

"Smart thinking. Oh yeah...try the coffee. the Columbian blend is insane."

"Sure. Is there a replicator in this holodeck?" Older Sakura asked.

"Computer, arch." Lt Sakura ordered.

Instantly the archway next to the holodeck's gateway appeared next to the table where Sakura was seated. She got up and walked over to the arch. "Black I presume?"

"Milk and sugar." Older Sakura said.

"Really? I always have it black."

"Well I've developed a taste for milk and sugar." Older Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright then...computer. Cup of Columbian coffee. Cream and sugar."

"Milk. I said milk." Older Sakura said.

"Computer, correction, milk, not cream." The computer then replicated another cup of coffee with the corrected specifications.

Sakura brought over both cups of coffee, giving her counterpart the correct one.

"Cheers." Older Sakura said as she took her cup.

Older Sakura took a big gulp, relishing in its flavor before getting one hell of a kick from the caffeine.

"Oh my. That'll put a pep in your step." She said.

"Yeah...that got me hyper as hell." Lt Sakura said sheepishly.

"Oh, you just swore again." Naruto said as he eyes darted over to Chiyo sleeping peacefully in Ino's arms.

"Uh...guys..." Hinata spoke.

"What is it?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"You won't believe me if I told you. Sakura-san, you're gonna wanna know this too."

"Why? Does it have something to do Sarada?" Older Sakura asked with concern.

"Yes. Don't worry, it's good news. I think." Hinata said. Her veins around her eyes being very pronounced and her cheeks brightening like she was 16 years old again.

"Where's Boruto?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"He's with Sarada." Hinata squeaked out.

Hokage Naruto and Older Sakura looked at one another in shock. Hinata never squeaked like that unless...

"Why are you blushing?" Starfleet Naruto asked. No one answered. Instead Hokage Naruto activated his Golden Kyuubi cloak in order to sense the intentions of every one in a ten-mile radius. He didn't have to look far to find Boruto and Sarada's energy signatures and how heated they were.

"Hinata, what do you see?" Hokage Naruto asked.

"Exactly what you sense." Hinata blushed.

"Well I don't know so tell me." Older Sakura demanded.

"What is it?" Naruto asked before activating his own Golden Sage Mode.

"Oh yeah!" Hokage Naruto fist pumped, quietly enough not to wake up Chiyo. He then couldn't contain himself and did a back flip.

"What?! Will someone tell me what's going on?!" Older Sakura demanded.

"Oh snap, Sakura-chan." Naruto hissed with a grin on his face.

"You know we're here too and we are interested." Temari said.

"Um...Boruto and Sarada...they're...um..." Hinata sputtered.

"They're gonna get married." Hokage Naruto squealed.

"Uh...what?" Older Sakura asked, not sure she understood what he said.

"No they aren't gonna get married." Hinata said. "They are just kissing."

Older Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "Are you serious?!"

Lt Sakura smiled. _'Well, its not me and Naruto, but its a close second.'_ She thought.

"We are gonna be brother and sister-in-laws Sakura!" Hokage Naruto exclaimed in joy.

"Well, wait a minute. I think it's a little soon for that..." Older Sakura sweat dropped.

"So what? Sarada is gonna be my daughter-in-law. This is great." Hokage Naruto smiled.

Older Sakura just sighed. Leave it to her Baka of a best friend to jump the gun.

"How lovely that would be." Hinata said.

"Well I mean...yeah, it would be amazing. But they're still just children. It's way too early to be thinking about this... Oh God...what would Sasuke say?"

"He would probably say, Hm." Starfleet Naruto said.

"Naruto, I don't expect you to know this, but Sasuke is very protective of our daughter. I don't think you would be any different. In fact, I can only imagine how you would react to some boy lip-locking Chiyo in 14 years." Older Sakura stated.

Naruto tried to imagine that and his fist tightened. "I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to set a curfew."

"Considering Romulans kidnapped her the moment I delivered her, we're both very protective of her." Lt Sakura informed.

"What was that? Chiyo was kidnapped?" Ino asked, holding her surrogate God daughter closer.

"The Enterprise was boarded by a Romulan fleet. They took her to try and gain Naruto's powers of Chakra." Lt Sakura said, angered in remembering that horrifying moment.

"Sakura-chan was in the middle of giving birth while I lead my ANBU aboard several ships in the Romulan fleet that was attacking us." Naruto said, feeling his blood boil. "Then I got word from Picard that they had attacked the med bay and stole Chiyo. Before Sakura could even look at her." He growled.

"Horrible...absolutely horrible..." Hokage Naruto growled.

"I would have killed them all." Hinata said.

"I almost did." Naruto admitted. "I slaughtered every last Romulan grunt that was dug into the engine room. But I couldn't bring myself to kill their leader."

"What? Why?!" Older Sakura demanded.

"He was disarmed and I had Chiyo back. And apparently he had a family."

"He took your daughter. I wouldn't have given him another moment to breath." Kiba said.

"He was unarmed." Choji said.

"I don't know why. I just couldn't kill another father on the day of my daughter's birth." Naruto said, feeling ashamed of himself.

"Neither would I." Hokage Naruto said.

Sakura leaned against Naruto and put her arms around him. "It just means that you are kind."

"That he is..." Hinata smiled as she did the same for her husband.

"Good to see that Naruto is still as Youthful in your universe as ours." Lee said.

"Yes, let's all keep praising Naruto. He's so great." Kiba said.

"Oh hush." Lt Sakura ordered. "God, you're just as much of a dick here as you are in our time."

"Nice to see some things don't change." Naruto said.

* * *

Meanwhile on the bridge, Captain Picard was going over the reports on repairs. Everything was going smoothly and at a good pace. They may just make it out of this universe with time to spare.

"Engineering to bridge." Geordi said over the coms.

"Go ahead." Picard answered.

"Just delivering my bi-daily report. We are still on the schedule that Data gave us, we should be completed 4 hours before our deadline to leave."

"Very good, Mr. LaForge. Keep me updated."

"Will do. La Forge out." Geordi said before ending the call.

"Captain. Something is happening to the wormhole." Data reported.

"Explain." Picard said.

"It appears the collapse of the wormhole is accelerating rapidly."

"How long until we can't fit through it?" Picard asked.

"Approximately 24 hours, sir." Data informed.

"Say again?" Picard exclaimed, standing up from his seat.

"Approximately 24 hours, sir." Data repeated.

Picard quickly opened the ship wide coms. "All hands, this is the Captain. new reports indicate that the wormhole collapse has accelerated. We now only have 24 hours to make it through the wormhole before we cannot fit through it at all. I want everyone to double up the work load starting right now."

"Captain Picard. We cannot make that deadline." Geordi reported back.

"You're going to have to, Geordi. Time is no longer on our side." Picard stated.

"As if it ever was. I had my men scheduled for a 16 hour and then a 12-hour shift. We would have to work 28 hours straight just to make up the difference."

"You have 23 hours, Geordi. Make them count. Picard out."

Geordi cursed before turning to his team of engineers, the backbone of the Enterprise. All of them looked exhausted from constant 16 hour shifts. Not counting the 20 minute breaks they got for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Their free time had been spent sleeping, but now they would be subjected to their biggest challenge yet.

"Alright everyone! you heard the Captain. Focus on the most essential systems. Keep the back-up systems on the back burner for now. We can repair all non-essential systems at a later time." Geordi ordered and everyone scrambled to get everything ready in an even shorter amount of time.

* * *

23 hours later. Their time was up.

Naruto and Sakura stood at the edge of Ridu Lake with Chiyo and Kurama. All to say goodbye to their counterparts one last time.

"Sorry we disrupted your lives so much." Sakura said sincerely.

"Please. This was the most interesting thing to happen in weeks." Older Sakura waved off as she held Chiyo in her arms one last time.

"Plus you got my son to stop acting like such a brat. Not to mention all the technology you gave us." Hokage Naruto smiled.

"Just promise us you won't abuse it. We're already breaking the Prime Directive as it is." Sakura begged.

"Sakura, please. This is Naruto we are talking about with promises." Older Sakura said.

Sakura scratched her head. "Yeah, good point..."

"Well then we need to get underway. Gotta get back to our own universe." Naruto said as he held out his hand for his counterpart to shake.

Hokage Naruto outstretched his hand and shook his counterparts. "Good luck to you. Who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again someday."

"Knowing our luck? It may very well happen." Naruto said, returning the handshake.

"And thank you for the technology. Seriously, this will make this here so much better."

"Thank you for only holding us at kunai point a little."

The two backed up a bit. Sakura tried to take back her daughter, but her counterpart held on tight.

"I need my daughter back..." Sakura said softly.

"Can't we keep her? Until you get back." Older Sakura said, just loving this baby to death.

"I swear I will sick Kurama on this village if I don't get my daughter back." Sakura said.

 **"I'd do it too."** Kurama said.

"He'd do it too." Sakura repeated.

"Alright, alright. Let's have none of this." Hokage Naruto chuckled good naturedly. "Come on, Sakura. I know she's your...our daughter, technically, but...she also isn't."

"But she has my hair." Older Sakura pouted. "And your cute whisker marks."

"I...wait...cute?" Hokage Naruto sputtered.

"Yeah. They are cute. Don't act so surprised. They are your cutest features. That and your winning smile." Older Sakura said.

Hokage Naruto blinked. "Okay, who are you and what happened to Sakura? You've never once said that about me."

"Well let's just say that if it wasn't Sasuke it was going to be you." Older Sakura said.

"Aw you find my whisker marks cute." Star fleet Naruto said to his Sakura.

 _'DAMN IT!'_ Hokage Naruto screamed in his head.

 _ **'Oh relax. Some would say you got the better deal.'**_ Kurama thought.

 _'Yeah, well...would have been nice to explore my options.'_ Hokage Naruto thought.

 _ **'Oh relax. You got a beautiful, well-endowed mate who is obsessed with you, a good cook, and is the ninja clan equivalent of a princess. I'd say put that in the win column.'**_

"I always thought they were. I told you that." Sakura reminded him.

"Well it's still sweet to hear from you." Naruto smiled.

"Right. Now..." Sakura said before glaring at her counterpart. "My baby. Now."

Older Sakura nodded before handing Chiyo over like she would a stack of fine china. Sakura took her into her arms and pressed her against her chest. Chiyo fussed a bit at being brought away from her favorite resting spot, but then settled after being returned to it.

"Take care of her. Both of you." Older Sakura said.

"Oh, don't you worry about that." Naruto grinned.

"As a mother it's my job to worry." Older Sakura countered.

"You could always try and have one for yourself." Sakura smirked.

"And maybe your Naruto should go back and have Boruto with Hinata." Older Sakura replied.

"No thanks." Naruto said.

 **"Yeah no."** Kurama said.

"Enterprise to Uzumaki's. Report to the ship on the double." Picard ordered impatiently.

"Okay, we really got to go." Naruto said.

"Good luck and kick those Romulan assholes for taking Chiyo!" Hokage Naruto said.

"Will do." Naruto said. "Lt. Naruto to Enterprise. Four to beam up." In an instant, all 4 of them were surrounded by a blue light before vanishing completely.

"I'm really going to miss our baby..." Sakura said sadly.

"Yeah. But at least we have our own kids." Hokage Naruto said as the lake surface began to quake until the Enterprise rose from its surface as if carrying the harbinger of a second coming. "Who knows? Maybe they will fail."

"Don't talk like that, Baka!" Sakura snapped.

"I'm just kidding." Hokage Naruto said, even if he truly wouldn't mind them staying for another 70 years. They watched as the Enterprise continued to grow in size until it was completely out of the water, revealing its true identity.

"Sweet Sage...that thing is huge..." Sakura gasped.

"Seriously." Hokage Naruto said it slowly rose to the sky.

* * *

Inside the bridge it was all hands on deck.

"Ensign, full impulse." Picard ordered.

"Aye sir." Ro replied before sending the Enterprise into max speed.

"Wormhole collapse continues to accelerate." Data reported.

"I need more power." Ro said.

"It's all I can give." Geordi said from his bridge console.

"Warp 1." Picard ordered.

"Wormhole at 260 meters in diameter." Data relayed.

"Warp core isn't responding! It's still in startup stages." Geordi informed.

"Gravitational field from the planet is acting like a lead weight. It's pulling on the ship." Sakura reported.

"Wormhole at 259 meters in diameter." Data relayed.

"Divert all power to the impulse engines!" Picard ordered.

"We're running on reserve power as it is! Any more and we'll risk draining life support." Geordi said.

"Carry out my order!" Picard spoke sternly.

"257.5 meters." Data said.

Geordi grimaced before diverting the power to the engines.

"All available power diverted." Geordi reported.

"2000 kilometers from the wormhole." Worf reported.

"256 meters." Data said. If it reached 250 meters then the edges of the ship saucer would crash.

 _'We're not gonna make it...'_ Naruto thought before coming up with an insane idea. Naruto clapped his hands and teleported to the engine room. He transformed into his golden form and shot his chakra out into every power station that the impulse engines ran on.

On the bridge, Geordi's console showed the power output of the impulse engines shoot completely off the scale.

"Captain. I'm showing a massive surge of power going into the impulse engines." Geordi reported.

"It's Naruto, saving us again." Riker laughed.

"Velocity increased to beyond our maximum impulse speed. We're nearing warp 1." Ro reported.

"Wormhole at 254 meters." Data reported.

On the outside, the impulse engines changed from red to gold and a large afterburner like trail shot out from them, propelling the ship hard through the wormhole with only seconds to spare.

The ship began to violently rattle. All the emergency welding and repairs made by the engineers were put to the test. Sakura held Chiyo tight while Kurama wrapped his tails around them.

"Report!" Picard ordered.

"Heavy turbulence is shaking the ship like a leaf in a windstorm!" Geordi reported.

"Nearing wormhole exit in 9 seconds!" Ro reported.

"Wormhole still closing. 251.4 meters." Data reported. "251.2, 251, 250.8..."

There was a scraping sound, like God sharpening his kunai across the saucer of the Enterprise. Every crew member could feel it in their teeth. The bridge crew dared to open their eyes to see the vastness of space laid out before them.

"We've exited the wormhole." Ro reported.

Every one fell against their seats. Even though they were already seated. A few seconds passed to allow everyone to catch their breath.

"Mr. Worf." Picard ordered. "Open up a channel to Starfleet. Confirm that we made it back."

"Channel open." Worf reported.

"This is Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise. Calling on any and all Federation ships to respond."

The coms were left silent, but then Worf's console alerted him. "Captain. I'm detecting a ship bearing 1 mark 264 on an intercept course."

"What do you make of it?" Riker asked.

"It's a Federation ship." Worf said before reading the info he got on it. "Registry number...NCC-1701...A..." He said in disbelief.

All the bridge crew turned to him and gaped in awe.

"USS...Enterprise..." Worf added.

Just then, the doors to the bridge flew open with Naruto rushing in.

"Yeah! We did it! We made it!" Naruto cheered as he held Sakura and Chiyo close.

"No... we didn't." Sakura said.

"We didn't?" Naruto deflated.

"We appear to be in another period of time." Data informed. "However, according to our chronometer, we seem to be back in our universe."

"Captain. The other Enterprise has dropped out of warp." Worf reported.

"On screen." Picard ordered.

The screen showed the iconic and historic Enterprise-A. Captained by the most legendary captain in Starfleet.

"The Enterprise A is hailing us." Worf responded.

Picard sighed heavily and stood up straight. "On screen..."

"Captain. According to the Temporal Prime Directive, we are forbidden to communicate with anyone in the past." Data reminded.

"I'm aware of that, Mr. Data. But the Temporal Prime Directive has already been broken." Picard said before Worf carried out his order.

The screen flash to show the man himself...Captain Kirk.

"This is Captain James T Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. Please Identify yourself." Kirk spoke.

Sakura and Naruto were in awe of the living legend himself, but when they saw two people behind him, they nearly hit the floor.

"N-Naruto...It's...Hashirama Senju...Lord First..." She whispered. "And Lady Mito Uzumaki."

' _ **My first host…'**_ Kurama thought.

"Oh boy..." Naruto said.

* * *

 **Author's Note from Panda: Swear to God we should have just called this chapter Whisker Marks.**

 **Also, haha, the chapter is called Return to the Past and instead it ends in the far past. Damn we are clever with these chapter titles.**

 **Sorry if it felt like we jumped around too much. But we do hope you like the next chapter to come out. It's one I have been looking forward to for a long time.**


End file.
